Switched
by Cam Flynn
Summary: The boys and girls have both signed up for America's latest reality show, 'Switched', with high hopes for adventure. Well...there's many definitions for the word 'adventure,' especially with the Chipmunks and Chipettes.
1. The Show

The sequal for 'The Lessons They Teach' will be up someday. It may be around Christmas time, it may be longer. Remember though, this sequal is going to be very novel-like, just like the first installment was.

Now, onto this story. This story is going to be a lot different from TLTT because it is, in my terms, a short story (meaning it'll most likely be under 100 pages). So I hope you enjoy this as much as you have my other works...

**AND DON'T FORGET: Sign my petition to let Ross and Janice know that we want to see more of the cartoon Chipmunks (and not just the old episodes either...the Chipmunk Adventure needs to be shown on TV as well as the fact that they need to make _more)_.**_

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_Switched_

**Chapter 1: The Show**

"That's right kids! Get your parents consent and have them give us a call to enter your names to switch with some other family somewhere in the United States of America. Who knows? You could switch homes with some celebrity fifty states away from where you are or with some kid that just lives right down the street. But your parents have to agree because, after all, they're going to be giving you up for two weeks and taking in someone else's kid for that same amount of time."

Alvin jumped up off the ground as the lady on TV went on explaining the rules of the newest TV show, 'Switched.' Every week, once they got enough names, they'd pick two families to switch kids. The kids would go stay with the other family for two weeks (the station had worked out all the scheduling so that there was one new episode every week from August until April) while the other kids came to stay with their family. "Now, you have to be between the ages of seven and seventeen to qualify."

"Don't forget about multiples!" the man beside her declared.

"Right! If you are a twin or a triplet, go ahead and bring your siblings along for the ride! We'll switch you out with another pair or trio from somewhere. But if you're siblings have a few years difference, they have to enter separately because then you're still considered a single. For those of you who aren't a multiple…" Alvin didn't care about that part. He was a multiple so he'd have to get Simon and Theodore to consent to it. He scribbled down the phone number at the bottom of the screen and dashed for the kitchen. Theodore would be the easier one to convince.

"Hey baby brother of mine," Alvin greeted as he went over and leaned on the counter under where his brother was mixing a cookie batter.

"Hi Alvin!" Theodore replied. "You're going to have to wait a while for the cookies though…"

"I wasn't here to ask about the cookies. Theodore, you like adventure, right?"

"Not really…"

"Adventure that _doesn't_ involve lying and taking off around the world?"

"That's a little more agreeable, but, no offense, adventure with you is usually really scary."

"Theodore, this can't be scary. We'd just be visiting some other loving family somewhere else in this country. For two weeks."

"I don't understand…"

"It's a new TV show! Kids switch families with some other kids for two weeks. Singles switch with singles, twins with twins, and _triplets_ with _triplets_. So Dave wouldn't have to worry about it being quiet around here. He'd still have three kids to take care of. Meanwhile, we could end up switching with some rich kids from New York, or Florida…or who knows where! We could be cowboys on a ranch for two weeks or we could end up staying with a movie director or who knows what!"

"A chef?"

"Theodore, you think _way_ too small."

"I'd be happy if we ended up with a professional chef."

"Ok, yes. We could end up with a chef too. We could end up with _anyone_ in the United States!"

"What if we ended up in Alaska?"

"Um…" Alvin hadn't thought of that. "Do they even have TVs in Alaska? Don't they live in those ice igloos?"

"Alvin," Simon scolded as he came up from the basement. "That's so stereotypical. There's towns and cities up in Alaska. You're thinking of the Eskimos that you see on TV. Now, why are you talking about Alaska anyway?"

"We don't want to end up there," Theodore tried to explain.

"Why, pray-tell, would we end up in Alaska?"

"If we switched with triplets from Alaska," Alvin stepped in for the youngest Chipmunk.

"Why would we do something like that?"

"There's a new TV show called Switched…"

"Forget it! We're not going to do something just for your twisted dreams." Simon turned to head for the den.

"Even if we end up with a professional scientist?" Simon stopped in his tracks.

"What's this show anyway?"

"We, being triplets, can end up switching with some other triplets somewhere in America. We go to wherever they are from for two weeks and they'd come here and stay with Dave."

"Does Dave know about this yet?"

"I haven't seen him since I found out about it. The show starts the first week of August, but they're pulling the first names out next week, seeing as it'll be two weeks before they can actually do a show on the kids that switched. The first season of this show is going to run from August until April. We just _have_ to be picked before school starts!"

"What if we're not picked until January or something? Can you imagine going to a different school in some place like…like Ohio for two weeks?"

"Why Ohio?" Theodore asked.

"It's in the north, and the further north you go the colder it gets. It's be really cold in January…We've never really been in a real winter. We've lived in California all of our lives. We've only seen snow…twice is it? Can you imagine going to school and there being snow on the ground?"

"A real snowball fight!" Alvin cheered. "I wonder if there are pretty girls in the northern states?"

"I wonder what kind of food there is in the northern states!" Theodore giggled.

"Why are you wondering that?" Dave asked. They'd been so caught up in their conversation that they hadn't heard him come in the front door. Like clockwork, the three went over and took what Dave handed them out of the grocery bag to put away.

"We were just wondering about what it'd be like to switch with some other triplets from somewhere else in America. Like someone from New York…"

"Or Ohio," Simon interrupted.

"Or Alaska!" Theodore giggled. Everyone stopped and stared at him for a second. "Well, it's possible too, right?"

"Yes it is," Alvin agreed. "And so is Florida or Hawaii!"

"Why are you talking about this?" Dave asked as he put away the stuff that needed to go on the top shelf in the cupboard.

"There's a new TV show called 'Switched' and singles can switch with singles, twins with twins, and triplets with triplets…Anywhere in the US! Now, if we got picked, the triplets from the other family would come stay here for two weeks while we go live their lives for two weeks."

"You didn't already sign up for this, did you?"

"Of course not!"

"Did you?" Simon blurted, staring at his brother. Whenever Alvin said 'of course not,' it usually meant that he had.

"I can't! Dave's the only one that can call in and sign us up!" There was a sigh of relief from the rest of the family and Alvin glared at all of them. "That really hurts you know! Just assuming I'd go ahead and do something without permission…" Simon rolled his eyes as Alvin pulled the number out of his pocket and handed it up to Dave. "The first names'll be drawn next week! And there'll be names drawn every week from now until the second week of April. What do you think?"

"I don't know…two weeks and you three could end up _anywhere_ in the US? What if we have a concert planned?"

"Well, then we'd have to go to it. Other celebrities have already signed up to switch families, so I'm sure there's some way to work it out." Dave sighed as he read the number four or five times before setting it down on the counter. "Well?" He glanced down to see Alvin's broken-hearted blue eyes staring at the slip of paper.

"We'll talk about it after we finish putting everything away and finish making dinner…"

"So basically we'll talk about it over dinner?"

"Yes."

…X…

"Are you sure you want to try it?" Miss Miller was asking the girls as she sat their glasses down on the table. Brittany always wanted chocolate milk, Jeanette had regular milk, and Eleanor loved her lemonade. "You know you could switch with any other triplets out there. And that family might not be so understanding to your little quirks."

"What little quirks?" Brittany said as she tried to check her reflection in the toaster across the room.

"The little quirks that make us unique," Jeanette hissed at her sister. "Like you being a fashion diva or me being clumsy."

"They wouldn't have signed up for it if they weren't willing to try taking care of someone else for two weeks," Eleanor explained. "They have to be open minded…But are you ok with it Miss Miller? You could end up with rowdy boys that never listen to anyone or never help out around the house!"

"Or worse…You could end up with the Chipmunks." Brittany's sisters glared at her.

"Their pretty good compared to what we could switch with," Jeanette replied. "Besides, we don't even know if they'd enter."

"Oh, believe me. If Alvin's heard about it, he's going to try to enter it."

"Not if Simon or Theodore or Dave don't agree. Everyone in the family has to consent to it or else he can't do it."

"I said try, didn't I? Besides, you like the idea. No doubt Simon would _love_ the chance to possibly stay with some elite scientist for two weeks."

"But you could end up with anyone anywhere," Miss Miller told them as she sat down. She wanted to make sure the girls were fully committed to it before calling in and signing them up. "New York with a Broadway actress or in Nevada on a ranch or in North Dakota with some every-day average family."

"Or we could end up with some Hollywood actress," Brittany said.

"Or a published author," Jeanette added.

"I don't really mind where," Eleanor finished, "but it just sounds like a really great experience all around."

"What if it's around a holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas?" The girls froze for a second, glancing at one another.

"Would they really switch kids around Christmas time?" Jeanette asked. "Thanksgiving, maybe, just because it doesn't have the same effect is had ten years ago…but Christmas?"

"Christmas is very commercialized now," Miss Miller sighed. "It's a pity, but I think they would. It'd be a very twisted thing to do, but I think they would do it."

"Let's just hope it doesn't come to that then," Eleanor said. "The whole show is complete chance. A seven year old boy from Florida could end up switching with a seventeen year old girl from Michigan in the middle of January. That's some major extremes. It's all chance, and it's all a learning experience."

"So if you all want to go ahead and sign up, I'll call first thing tomorrow."

"Why wait until tomorrow?" Brittany griped.

"Alright, I'll call right after dinner."

…X…

"After dinner?" Alvin was complaining back at the Seville residence. "Call now! Call now!"

"After dinner!" Dave said sternly, but as he looked around the table at the other two, their eyes made him sigh and give in. "Alright, I'll call now." Smiles broke out on their faces as they cheered silently while Dave dialed the number.


	2. Picked

Hmm...I haven't gone back to proof-read any of this, just in case anyone was wonderin'. Anywho...I need something big to happen. Well, maybe not big. More like a 'pow' kind of moment. I like those. So far this story just seems to have no real adventure. So any ideas on that part?

**AND DON'T FORGET: Sign my petition to let Ross and Janice know that we want to see more of the cartoon Chipmunks (and not just the old episodes either...the Chipmunk Adventure needs to be shown on TV as well as the fact that they need to make _more)_.**_

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_Switched_

Chapter 2: Picked

"It's been way too long," Alvin complained as he walked beside Brittany down the sidewalk after school in mid-November. "I thought we'd be picked by now!"

"Me too," Brittany griped.

"I could stand waiting until January," Simon told them. "I'd rather not get picked through the holidays."

"It's just Thanksgiving," Alvin spat.

"Just Thanksgiving? Alvin! Thanksgiving is a family holiday. I'd much rather spend it with Dave than some strangers, wouldn't you?"

"Thanksgiving is the same thing every year. There's nothing special about it." Simon glared at his brother as the Chipettes turned to head home.

"Tonight may be our lucky night," Eleanor called over to them. "Or yours even."

"Don't worry, we watch it every Wednesday," Theodore reminded her. "Even if we don't get picked, it's still a fun show. I especially liked last week's when those celebrity twins were switched with trailer park twins."

"They certainly learned their lesson," Simon agreed as they boys headed off down their street. "I hope we end up with someone that'll teach Alvin his lesson."

"He's already learned his lesson; many times…He just needs it re-informed sometimes."

"That's 're-enforced,' Theodore. Not re-informed."

"Oh."

…X…

"Well, what a show!" the girl laughed. It had been a sixteen year old couple that had ended up switching with each other. "Well, that just goes to show you that you can end up anywhere. Even in your boyfriend or girlfriend's house."

"This week we're diving into our triplets bag!" the male announcer said. "And my has it grown since the last time we picked triplets." He lifted up a big brown bag to prove his point. The names were actually all listed on a board with numbers beside them and to get picked was like the lottery. There were numbered balls in a machine and, one at a time, the numbers were shot out.

The boys sat on the couch around Dave, Theodore and Alvin on Dave's sides and Simon sitting on the other side of Theodore. Dave couldn't help but wrap his arms (as best as he could) around his three boys as the girl started the machine. Alvin glanced up to see Dave's eyes staring intensely at the screen. The next two weeks would cut into Thanksgiving for sure, and even if Alvin didn't think Thanksgiving was a big deal, it was very obvious that Dave did. Watching Dave right then, Alvin almost wished that they wouldn't get picked that week…until he heard the number.

"Seventy-one!" the announcer called. The boys couldn't help but leap up and cheer. They'd memorized their number as soon as they'd been assigned to it. Even Simon leaped up with his brothers. "And the lucky trio is…"

"Alvin, Simon, and Theodore Seville!" the man said as he pointed to their name on the chart. "Also known as everyone's favorite up-and-coming celebrities, the Chipmunks!"

"Up and coming?" Alvin spat at the TV.

"We're still kids Alvin," Simon laughed.

"So? Everyone loves us!"

"That doesn't change the fact that we're still developing our reputations."

"The fans say it all Simon, and we have millions. We are famous rock stars."

"Shh!" Theodore hissed. "They've got the other one!"

"Heh, this should be fun," the lady said, but her face looked bored.

"Well, who is it?" her counterpart asked, and she put on her show-smile again.

"Number seventy-eight!" The man's smile dropped for a second too, then he turned around and pointed at the names.

"The female counterparts to the Chipmunks, Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor Miller. The Chipettes!" The boys' faces fell. They were going two blocks away from home. All three tensed up when they heard Dave let out a sigh of relief. Then Simon remembered that this was going to be the Thanksgiving episode. Well, it'd air the Wednesday after Thanksgiving, but it would include Thanksgiving. "Well girls, I'll be by to visit you tomorrow after school."

"And I'll be seeing you boys! Until then…" No one was paying attention to the closing lines. The boys were moping, and two blocks away the younger two Miller sisters were trying to quiet Brittany.

"What happened to adventure?" she was complaining. "What happened to going to distant cities, seeing new sites? Trying a new school?"

"I thought you didn't care about school," Jeanette laughed quietly.

"I don't! But think of the cute boys! But no. We're just going to go stay with Dave. Where's the excitement in that? He knows us already, and we know him already. Four minutes on the eggs and sports before front page…how hard is that?"

"We don't know how hard it is to live with Dave," Eleanor reminded her. "We've never stayed at the Seville house when the boys weren't there."

"You stayed with them when they were?" Miss Miller asked in a bit of surprise.

"Before we came here," Brittany told her. "We tried living with the boys so we wouldn't have to be sent to some orphanage."

"Oh, right. I remember that." The girls sighed as they sunk to the floor.

"It's not going to be much of an adventure," Eleanor sighed. They'd all been looking forward to a safe adventure, but they weren't even trying a different school. "We'd better start packing."

"Why's that?"

"We're not boys," Jeanette reminded her. "If we don't pack enough clothes, especially in Brittany's case…Well, we just don't want to end up wearing the boys' clothes."

"He has a washing machine dear."

"I don't wear the same thing more than once every other week," Brittany declared. "And I will not wear one of Alvin's sweaters."

"You aren't big enough to fit in one of his sweaters," Eleanor said. "And be glad for that."

"Yes, I suppose my feminine curves do make me quite a bit smaller than him, don't they?" Miss Miller tried hard to hold back a snort as Brittany spun around on foot.

…X…

"So unfair!" Alvin complained as he bounced one of his many bouncy balls off his head board. He'd put his pillow down by the footboard and was laying like that so he had a hard surface to take his frustration out on. "We've spent a ton of time with Miss Miller. That's nothing new in staying with her."

"She has a cat now," Theodore reminded him optimistically.

"Big deal. That doesn't change much at all."

"Well, everything's an adventure with Miss Miller," Simon said. "From her driving to her cooking to…"

"Don't mention the driving! I still get dizzy just thinking about that ride home." With all the cops around on the way home from the airport that day Miss Miller still hadn't paid much mind to the speed limit as she was off in her own world…plus the number of times they'd almost crashed and she still hadn't noticed. That had to have been the worst part of their whole adventure, including their punishment by the time Dave was done lecturing them on running off around the world like that…

"Fine, what about her cooking?"

"She'll never cook as well as Dave can," Theodore mumbled.

"Or as well as you," Alvin teased. He knew what Theodore was thinking. He was wondering if Miss Miller would mind all the cooking he was always up to.

"Well, when you have a talent, use it, right?"

"In most cases," Simon agreed, glaring at Alvin.

"What's that for?" Alvin hissed back.

"You seem to have many talents that are best not used."

"Like what?"

"Like all your scheming and all the trouble you get us into." They proceeded to glare at each other for a moment until they heard Dave outside their room.

"Goodnight fellas," he said as he poked his head in.

"Night Dave," they replied in unison. As soon as they saw him, they all put down what they were doing and climbed into bed. It was what they had always done, ever since they'd gotten beds of their own.

"You know what would have at least given the girls some adventure?" Alvin whispered as he heard the door click shut. His arms were tucked behind as he stared at the ceiling, still silently complaining about their miserable luck.

"What?" Simon said, knowing Alvin would say it anyway even if he didn't ask.

"If we still lived in that cabin then they'd have to rough it a little bit."

"We didn't really rough it back then."

"We were babies. Dave roughed it for us and spent the rest of the time spoiling us."

"We are pretty spoiled, aren't we?" Theodore giggled. "That could be the big difference…The girls haven't ever been spoiled. Maybe we'll be the ones roughing it."

"At least it'd be a little change of pace. That's why I wanted to sign up in the first place. To see and do something completely new."


	3. Laying Out the Rules

Poll time! What kind of QUIRKS should the families have? (Please, keep your ideas appropriate for my story/style of writing...I know there are some people out there who could come up with some really twisted ones, and if you're one of them...keep the twisted ones to yourself.)

**AND DON'T FORGET: Sign my petition to let Ross and Janice know that we want to see more of the cartoon Chipmunks (and not just the old episodes either...the Chipmunk Adventure needs to be shown on TV as well as the fact that they need to make _more)_.**_

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_Switched_

Chapter 3: Laying Out the Rules

"Oh, so you're all here?" the lady announcer said as Dave let her in the house. The girls had come over after school.

"We're close friends," Jeanette told her.

"Hmm." She walked carefully and professionally over to the couch and sat down, perfectly poised in every way. "Well, as you must know by now, I'm Jillian, one of the hosts of the show that you guys are all going to be on. But there's some extra rules in place with you guys, since you all live in the same town."

"Practically on the same street," Alvin complained.

"Well, that's the luck of the draw for you. Anywhere from California to New York, from Alaska to Florida. Or just right down the street."

"Down the street is right," Brittany mumbled. Their siblings quickly hushed the two, stepping up to at least pretend to be excited.

"Well, because you're just two blocks away from each other, we're going to have to ask that you don't confer with some sort of game plan or explain anything about the little quirks of your homes to each other." Dave backed out of the room, suddenly feeling a tiny bit uncomfortable. They didn't have any strange quirks as a family, did they? "If we have to, we'll have hired hands stay near you at all times to make sure you're not talking about home life to each other, is that clear?"

"Yes ma'am," they all echoed. She'd said it in an almost military voice, but still somehow soft and gentle (and, on top of it all, professional).

"Now, on to business. The whole point of this program is to give kids the opportunity to see what life is like in other houses besides their own, to branch out a little. In some cases, even see other cultures. So, in case you haven't noticed, on the last day you'll all come down to the station for an interview to talk about your experiences. Until then, refer back to the first rule. No talking about anything as much as you can help it. Now if you're working on a school project together, that's allowed, but in general, we'd like it if you could stay separate for the two weeks."

"So…If the girls have a question about something around the house, they can't come ask us?" Simon asked.

"No. If you were from different states they wouldn't be able to ask you, would they?"

"No."

"Exactly. Now, the bed arrangements depend on the house, but I'm going to assume that there's only enough bedroom space in each house for all of you?"

"We share a room," Theodore and Eleanor said together.

"So…"

"Two bedrooms in this house," Alvin told her.

"And two in ours," Brittany said.

"So basically you girls will be staying in the boys' room and vise versa?" Jillian summed up. "Well, you don't need to take your bedding and such, but if there's anything that you simply can't sleep without, don't be afraid to bring it. Once the program starts, you won't be allowed back on your own property." Theodore glanced over at the stairs. He loved his teddy, he really did, but no one outside of the Seville family knew about it (not even Eleanor). The TV crew wouldn't violate that, would they?

"What if we run out of clothes?" Brittany said. "We're not allowed to bring more than we'd be able to take on a plane, right?"

"Those are the rules."

"I don't like to wear the same clothes more than once every other week."

"That's a lot of yellow legwarmers…" Alvin said as he stared at her.

"Legwarmers are different. I have five pairs of those. Fourteen pairs of tights, of course, and fourteen…"

"Of the same outfit?"

"They're all different!"

"I can't tell the difference."

"That's because you're a boy." Her sisters snickered. "And what about you? Make sure you take enough sweaters. You are not allowed to borrow my clothes." That got the two girls outright laughing as Alvin blushed deep enough for the red to show through his fur.

"I'd never borrow your clothes! I'm not a cross-dresser."

"That never stopped you before," Simon couldn't help but whisper though his own barely-contained snickers.

"Simon!"

"Hey!" Eleanor scolded. "Be quiet or you'll miss the rules and get in trouble and get us kicked off the show!"

"We will not!" Alvin and Brittany replied together, getting everyone to crack up. Even Dave couldn't help but laugh from the kitchen as he listened in. Alvin was probably the only one who heard him, but Alvin turned his head to see if he could catch a glimpse of his dad.

"Now I hope you made note of what I said," Jillian tried to hold on to the professional tone in her voice. "Boys, you won't be allowed to set foot on this property, let alone in this house, for two weeks. Girls, same with you for your home. Now…what have we covered already?"

"No conferring," Jeanette said.

"And no trespassing," Simon added.

"It's not exactly trespassing, but that's a good word to use. That's against the law and coming home is against the rules. That is, unless you forfeit or fall ill. Then of course you're allowed to come home. But there are some restrictions on the illness too. If it's a head cold or allergies or a sprain then you have to stay there. But if it's a broken bone or the flu or something like that, then you can come home. But that won't lead to you or your siblings forfeiting. If you were singles switching, the kid you switched with would still stay here for the remainder of the time. Since you're just going to be two blocks away you can probably return once you feel better…but no ones ever had to pull the illness card yet in the short history of our show, so we probably won't have to deal with that."

"Forfeit isn't the best word. We're not competing."

"True."

"There's someone running up your driveway," Jeanette said as she tugged on Simon's sleeve. Jillian glanced out the window and giggled to herself.

"That's Andy." Alvin ran over and let Jillian's co-worker in.

"The girls aren't…there because they're here," Andy said as he slowly calmed down. "Well, I went over everything with Miss Miller…"

"I was just about to turn the kids loose and finish up going over some other stuff with Mr. Seville. Do you kids think you could go start packing or something?" They glared for a second, but the boys bid the girls farewell and hurried upstairs while the girls headed home. Little details and the signing of a contract between the family and the show was all that was left, so that wasn't what bothered them. It was Jillian's professional, 'brush the kids off' tone that annoyed them. Any adult that talked to kids like they were babies was a pain.

"Man!" Alvin finally exploded as he threw his suitcase down. "This is such a waste! We're packing two weeks worth of our stuff just to go two blocks away!"

"Shh!" Simon said.

"Why?"

"You never know weather or not they've hidden cameras already."

"Why would they have done that?"

"Well…Just watching Dave since we got home from school, maybe they've already been here and gone already."

"Then what are they talking about downstairs?"

"Anything that wasn't covered already. Maybe they're just going into details about what he's supposed to do if he sees us around town or whatever…Or maybe they had to check a question. What if he had planned a concert? Or what if someone calls telling us they'd love to see us perform for them? Or…"

"No more 'what if's'!" Theodore shouted. "It's making my head hurt." To make up with his brother, Simon went over and helped Theodore pull his big suitcase out from under his bed. Alvin kept on grumbling quietly as he started to empty his drawers. Sweaters, pants, socks, and so on...It didn't take more than fifteen minutes to pack the clothes he'd need. His brothers were the same way. They were all sitting on the floor at the foot of Alvin's bed as the thought over what they'd have at the Chipette's house and what they'd need besides their clothes.

The first thing they came up with was shampoo and body wash. Obviously they weren't going to be using whatever the girls used. That stuff smelled, well, extremely pretty they had to admit. But they were boys. They did not, by any stretch, want to smell like girls. So that was the first thing on their list. But other than that, they weren't anywhere near as sure on what they'd need. They wouldn't need towels or food or any of the things they always packed when camping, but there was certainly more that they'd need besides what they had.

"Hey fellas," Dave said as he just walked in, not even bothering to knock this time.

"So what were you talking about?" Alvin asked.

"Well, I told them earlier that I'd planned a concert for you three and, well, it was going to be a surprise. It's next Saturday."

"A surprise with just a week to prepare?" Simon said.

"You guys know all your songs, you don't need to do much more than figure out what you want to wear. But when your names were pulled, well…Of course I had to ask them about that. They said that I can work out the details with Miss Miller, but she's going to have to take you to that. I can still manage it, but…" The boys looked sick already.

"She'll drive us there…and make sure we're ready and…" Theodore started.

"We're doomed," Alvin said as he dropped his forehead to Simon's shoulder. Simon merely pushed his elder brother away, but there was certainly a hint of fear in his eyes too.

"Besides that," Dave tried to divert their attention, "since we're so close, they've been debating on Thanksgiving for us. Jillian thinks that it'd be alright if we all have Thanksgiving dinner together…that is, us and Miss Miller and the girls. Like a big family thing."

"With grandma and grandpa?"

"Of course."

"Where then?" Simon asked. "We won't be allowed to come here; the girls won't be allowed to go home…"

"The station is debating on the details. They've actually already posted a poll on the website to see what the audience thinks…" The boys ran out of the room and down the stairs before Dave could finish. A long while ago, Dave had asked them which they wanted in their room more, a computer or a TV? It was Alvin and Theodore for the TV, Simon for a computer. So Simon didn't mind going downstairs to get on the computer. He'd just wanted it for homework anyway. And the TV had turned out to be the better choice in the end. They loved putting in a movie almost every night at eight to unwind before bed. Of course, on school nights they had to cut their movies in half because their bedtime was nine.

"There it is!" Simon was saying as Dave slowly walked down the stairs. The boys were on the site, reading the poll. "Should the Chipmunks and Chipettes be allowed to have Thanksgiving with their families, together?"

"Check yes!" Theodore yelped at the oldest Chipmunk, grabbing onto Alvin's arm and shaking it until Alvin let go of the mouse.

"I can't pick anything if I can't use the mouse!" Alvin scolded. They watched intently for the poll results once Alvin had clicked. Dave picked up his pace when he heard them howling with unhappiness.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Sixty percent so far have said no!" Simon blurted, sitting on the floor right there. He leaned his back against the chair as Alvin checked out some other details on the site.

"Well, you've got almost two weeks. Hopefully more understanding people will vote between now and then." He watched as Theodore did what Simon had just done on the other side of the chair. "It could be worse. It could be eighty percent. What are the numbers?"

"The 'no' number was around six thousand," Alvin said as he glared at the screen. After about five minutes he just closed out of the browser and hopped over Simon and started to head for the kitchen. "Fellas, come here for a second." They all looked over at him as he kneeled down and reached out his arms for them. At first they didn't budge, but one-by-one they hurried over to him. "If they don't let us have Thanksgiving together, we'll just have a little feast of our own after you get back, ok?" He held them close as they all nodded.

"I was hoping for a time slot in January," Simon whispered.

"I was hoping for a trip to New York," Alvin added.

"I was hoping we'd be staying with a professional chef," Theodore finished. His two brothers snickered as they lovingly nudged their baby brother.

"You're always thinking about food," they teased.

"Well, food is yummy…and speaking of food, I'm hungry." The entire family cracked up as Dave grabbed two hands (that just happened to be Alvin and Simon's) and led his boys to the kitchen to have them help him with dinner.


	4. The Accomodations

GUYS! Look, I know it just takes soooo much time to review and say 'Thanks for Updating!' or 'Lovin' it!' or at least tell me what you didn't enjoy about the chapter. Peh.

Thanks to the THREE of you who reviewed. Now, I'd like to draw some attention to the other twenty-some who didn't. Yes! I know there were TWENTY different people that didn't review (there's this nifty little feature that lets me do that...I HAVE been tracking you guys). Yes. I'm a stalker. No. I will not hurt you.

Please...I have very little self-confidence. I need those reviews. So please feed my confidence...if you don't...then I just won't update. (One more note: Anonymous reviews are allowed...so please, there is NO excuse for not reviewing).

**AND DON'T FORGET: Sign my petition to let Ross and Janice know that we want to see more of the cartoon Chipmunks (and not just the old episodes either...the Chipmunk Adventure needs to be shown on TV as well as the fact that they need to make _more)_.**_

* * *

_

_Switched_

**Chapter 4: The Accomodations**

"I love you boys," Dave said as he hugged his boys while the girls dragged their stuff out to his car. They Chipmunks had already taken their suitcases into the house and had stuck around to help the girls load everything into Dave's trunk. It was obvious that the girls weren't packing as light as the boys had. Even Eleanor and Jeanette had more stuff than the boys had had. But by far Brittany had the most, as always.

"We love you too," the boys all echoed. There was a camera man getting the whole thing, and Jillian and Andy were there keep an eye on everything. This was one thing they could keep a constant eye on. There were other random hosts in the other states because the families could get split so far apart, but Jillian and Andy were excited to finally both be working on one of their 'Switched' episodes. They were going to be more than just hosts to talk about the clips that were going to be shown or the people that interviewed the kids at the station at the end of their sessions.

"Girls, are you sure you have everything…" Miss Miller started.

"Yes!" Eleanor said, running over to hug the old lady. She didn't want Miss Miller to bring other ideas to her sister's head on things to take to the Seville house. "We'll be fine. It's just fourteen days."

"I'm going to miss you three." She returned Eleanor's hug while reaching out to accept hugs from Jeanette and Brittany.

"I hate to break up the farewell party…" Andy started.

"But you really must be on your way," Jillian finished. It had become apparent to the kids that Jillian was quite a spotlight hog in comparison to Andy. Andy was surprisingly more reserved in person. And he was much more comfortable than Jillian was. While his female co-worker always seemed to have her professional demeanor, when he acted professional it was just a façade. He was really much more relaxed.

"Bye!" they all shouted at one another as the girls piled into the backseat.

"See you at school!" Simon called to the girls.

"You too!" Jeanette called back.

"Remember the rules!" Jillian shouted as Dave drove off. "Well, have fun now."

"Where are you going?" Miss Miller asked.

"We don't have a major part in any of this part of the show, we're just here to talk and enforce the rules. And now we're leaving so you all can get comfortable with each other." The hosts waved as Miss Miller scratched her head. The boys gently pushed her into the house, shutting the door and locking it as soon as she was in. They'd ended up locking the camera man out, and he pounded on the door for a few minute before Miss Miller let him in.

"I'm not going to be constantly hovering," he assured her. "I'm just going to make sure all the hidden cameras are in place and working properly. I'll come by every so often to check the batteries, replace the film, and so on."

"Why do you have a camera with you now then?" Alvin demanded.

"Because I want to film some stuff by hand. It looks better that way." He went around the house and the boy suspected he was showing their audience where all the cameras were.

"Let's…"

"Take your things on up to the girls' room," Miss Miller cut him off. "I'm sorry you'll have to stay there, but it's the only space I have for you three." Alvin glanced after the camera man, wanting desperately to follow, but Simon pulled on the back of his collar to change his mind.

"You'll find them all eventually anyway," Simon reminded him as they all grabbed onto their suitcases and dragged them upstairs. They peeked tentatively into their temporary bedroom, shying away at first in shock. It was so spotless…The second thing they noticed was the color scheme: Eleanor's area was all aquamarine, Brittany's pink, and Jeanette's purple. They all scrunched up their noses as they pulled their things in. What was surprising was that there were still some clothes in the closets. Mostly just fancy dresses and heels, but they'd all been convinced that Brittany had packed the whole room. She had certainly had enough luggage.

"Um…do we unpack now?" Theodore asked.

"And put the clothes where?" Alvin asked as he checked the drawers. Some had been cleaned out; others were brimming with who knew what. Chick stuff. "There's not enough space in any one drawer to keep all our clothes…"

"This is much different than home," Simon whispered. "Have we ever been up here before?" His brothers paused and joined him and glancing around the room. The looked at it from floor to ceiling, trying to think of some time when they'd even been upstairs.

"No."

"Weird. They've been in our room many times, but we've never been up here."

"Well, girls have much more privet lives than boys do," Theodore announced. "We never wanted to invade their privacy and they've never invited us up…we invading their privacy now, are we?"

"Of course not," Alvin assured his little brother. "I'm sure they took all their privet stuff with them. That's why they had so much junk…They had just better not rearrange our room or change anything."

"What's the worst they could do?" Simon asked. "Clean it for us?" He glanced at his suitcase and sighed. "Why don't we just leave our suitcases at the foot of our…beds…" He walked tentatively up to the purple bed. Jeanette's bed. There was lace on the pillow edge.

"This is awful," Alvin whispered as he stared at all the pink, silk, and lace that made up Brittany's bed. He popped open his suitcase and pulled a thin blanket off the top.

"You packed a blanket?"

"I figured Brittany would have a pink bed." He pulled the Chipette's blankets off her bed and just dumped them on the floor as he put his red blanked on.

"You can't just throw them to one side!" Alvin watched as Simon grabbed the blankets and started folding them. He'd known Simon would do that, which is why he'd done what he did. He wasn't going to worry himself with little things when he knew one of his brothers would do it for him without thinking twice. Simon didn't even seem to realize that Alvin had known he'd handle that. So Alvin moved on and pulled a pillow case out and tugged a pillow case off one of Brittany's pillows. He folded that one though, figuring he didn't want to make Simon too frustrated with him. He let that fall to the top of the pile Simon had just made.

"You really came prepared," Theodore said as he stared at Eleanor's bed. It didn't feel right at all to be sleeping in her bed. But both of them jumped when they heard Simon sneeze.

"Simon, you can't get sick," Alvin warned his brother. "Not now that we're on TV…plus we have a concert coming up!"

"I'm not getting sick!" Simon replied. "It was just a simple sneeze. It happens from time to time." Alvin glared, but went on with turning Brittany's bed into a bed he was comfortable with sleeping in. He tucked her remaining pillow underneath his now red pillow, then turned around and flopped down, closing his eyes and pretending he was home. Staying in a girl's bedroom was just so embarrassing.

…X…

"Brittany!" Jeanette scolded as she collected all the cloth that had just been thrown off Alvin's bed. Sheets, pillow-covers, everything. Brittany recovered the bed with her own things, down to her own comforter.

"What did you make your bed with this morning anyway?" Eleanor asked as she and Jeanette started folding Alvin's blankets.

"Just some old stuff I found in the closet. You know, those old blankets that Miss Miller provided when we first moved in, before we got to use what we wanted."

"Brittany, it's not that bad sleeping in Alvin's bed."

"Oh yes it is! I wonder how often he takes a shower? Not enough! He's probably filthy…And you wonder why I brought all my sheets with me. I don't want him messing them up." Her sisters rolled their eyes, going over to their own temporary beds. There was nothing too out of the ordinary, it just didn't feel right. They felt like they were invading the boys' privacy. "Do you two want some too?"

"Want some what?" Jeanette asked.

"Extra sheets! I brought enough for all three beds." The sisters opened their mouths to reprimand their sister, but changed their minds.

"Actually, that doesn't sound too bad," Eleanor said. "Just so long as we make their beds before we leave."

"Oh, don't worry. We'll clean this room too."

"Brittany, you hate cleaning," Jeanette reminded her sister as she started to strip Simon's bed, folding everything as she pulled it off and set it at the foot of the bed. Their suitcases were sitting close to the door where Dave had put them, waiting to be unpacked. So far Dave was being kind, but he was definitely just their friend's dad to them. It was all very awkward.

"I hate cleaning, but I hate living in filth even worse. Remember how we kept the tree house clean? I can't stand living someplace dirty."

"This isn't that bad," Eleanor said on behalf of the boys. "It really could be a lot worse."

"But it's still gross. Our room is cleaner than this." Her younger sisters giggled. "What's so funny?"

"Our room is clean by any standard." Eleanor went over and grabbed the sheets that her sister was setting out for them. "No wonder you had so much luggage. Did you come with everything we own?"

"Except our really fancy dresses and our heels and little stuff like that." Next Brittany went over and popped open a suitcase that was entirely filled with make-up, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and so much more. She peeked into the hall, wondering if Dave would mind if she took over the bathroom. Even if he didn't, she took her things to the bathroom and started setting up in there. Her curling iron was placed as close to an outlet as she could manage while keeping it on the counter, the makeup was set up neatly beside her hairbrush, and she set her shower things by the bathtub. Then she skipped happily back to the boys' room. It wasn't going to be so bad. In fact, it'd be a breeze. Sure, there wasn't going to be much adventure, but there'd be more than enough publicity by the time it was over. The name of the Chipettes was on its way up.

"It's six already," Jeanette said as she started putting her clothes away. She had been the one brave enough to pull open the drawers, and they'd all been ecstatic to find that the boys had mostly emptied them. So the girls went straight to work, Jeanette with the bottom drawer because her clumsiness made it unsafe to have the top one, Brittany with the middle one because she changed outfits so often (even though they all looked the same to everyone but her) that it didn't make sense for her to climb to the top to get clothes every five minutes, and Eleanor took the top because she didn't mind one bit.

As Brittany laid out all her legwarmers and her three scarves on her bed, she couldn't help but turn on Alvin's radio. It surprised her to find that he enjoyed listening to the same 80s music station that she did, but she picked right up with the song that was being played. Lucky for her it was just starting.

"First, when there's nothing but a slow glowing dream  
That your fear seems to hide deep inside your mind  
All alone I have cried silent tears full of pride  
In a world made of steel, made of stone."

Her sisters rolled their eyes, but the giggled and joined in. They all loved 80s music, there was just no getting around it.

"Well I hear the music, close my eyes, feel the rhythm  
Wrap around, take a hold of my heart."

Brittany sat down on Alvin's bed, closing her eyes as she finally started to relax with the idea that she'd be sleeping not only in Alvin's house, but in his bed to boot. Sure, she put on the airs that all was fine and dandy, just so long as she had her sheets. But just the idea of spending even a single night in someone else's bed was strange.

"What a feeling, bein's believin'  
I can't have it all, now I'm dancin' for my life  
Take your passion, and make it happen  
Pictures come alive, you can dance right through your life…"

She opened her eyes and nodded to Jeanette, silently letting her younger sister know that she could have a little solo.

"Now I hear the music, close my eyes, I am rhythm  
In a flash it takes hold of my heart."

They all stopped what they were doing (folding clothes or just sitting around) and started moving around together in a natural dance. Dave could hear them all the way downstairs and their door was shut.

"What a feeling, bein's believin'  
I can't have it all, now I'm dancin' for my life  
Take your passion, and make it happen  
Pictures come alive, you can dance right through your life...

What a feeling…"

They stopped, Eleanor and Jeanette taking their poses beside their sister as they switched to backing up Brittany singing the chorus (rather than all three of them harmonizing).

"What a feeling (I am music now),

Bein's believin' (I am rhythm now)  
Pictures come alive, you can dance right through your life.  
What a feeling (I can really have it all),  
What a feeling (Pictures come alive when I call),  
I can have it all (I can really have it all),  
Have it all (Pictures come alive when I call).  
(Call, call, call, call, what a feeling) I can have it all.  
(Bein's believin') Bein's believin'.  
(Take your passion, make it happen) Make it happen…  
(What a feeling) what a feeling..."


	5. Sunday

Sorry about how mean I was last chappie. But I'm giving you guys chapter five now...I'm writing chapter nine, in case you were wondering were I was in comparison to what I'm posting for you.

And please, if you read this: Go to my page in vote in my poll. It's very important for me, ok? Check it out. Have fun! Happy readings!

**AND DON'T FORGET: Sign my petition to let Ross and Janice know that we want to see more of the cartoon Chipmunks (and not just the old episodes either...the Chipmunk Adventure needs to be shown on TV as well as the fact that they need to make _more)_.**

* * *

_Switched_

**Chapter 5: Sunday**

Alvin grumbled as he mopped the floor. He was wondering if Miss Miller had ever heard of the newest advances in technology. Huge, messy mops were no longer necessary. It was Sunday afternoon and they were all doing chores. Worse than at home…at home chores didn't take more than ten minutes. They'd worked out all the tricks to make the work go faster. Theodore was given the job of dusting everything and Simon was vacuuming. Miss Miller was doing laundry.

Alvin finally just threw down the mop that was over a foot taller than he was anyway. He yelped as it hit the bucket, spilling all the dirty water onto the floor. He jumped up on a chair in an attempt to keep his feet dry. He was in socks in an attempt to keep his hard work from being wasted, but his hard work hadn't been going very far. And now it was a waste anyway.

"What's wrong?" Simon asked as he ran in, slipping and falling into the water completely. Alvin couldn't help but laugh at his brother's plight. Simon had stopped vacuuming for a minute (like Alvin and the mop, the vacuum was taller than Simon was) and had heard the whole thing. "Alvin!"

"I didn't spill it on purpose!" Alvin replied. "Are you ok?"

"You could help me you know!"

"Then I'd get wet." Simon glared as he stood up, trying to brush the water off. He sighed and set the bucket up, passing the mop up to Alvin as Miss Miller came to the rescue.

"Are you boys alright?"

"Just fine. Simon's pretty wet though." For an old lady, she moved fast. She darted to collect towels for the floor and for Simon, sending the middle Chipmunk upstairs to change and warning him to hurry so they could throw his sweater in with her colored laundry.

"You could use Brittany's mop," she told Alvin, pulling a shorter mop out from the very back of the closet. He stared in amazement. He'd have never have known that was there if she hadn't pulled it out for him…Brittany had probably planned that. Just to see the whole mess of him trying to use a bigger mop on national TV. But the other thing that really amazed him was that Brittany actually mopped.

"Um…I'll get some more water and start over." He flashed his best fake smile as he hopped off the chair and grabbed the bucket.

"Might want to let me do that." She snatched the bucket from him as she caught the mop that he had just dropped to refill the bucket. "You wipe up the floor as best as you can. Get as much dirt as you can and maybe you won't have to do the whole thing over." Alvin sighed as he got down on his hands and knees and started rubbing the towels across the floor. It didn't help that they were already dripping with water. They weren't drying up anything at all.

"Here," he heard Theodore offering. He glanced up to see Theodore offering four more dry towels and he flashed his baby brother a smile.

"Thanks." He glanced up as Miss Miller grabbed the soaked towels and took them out back to hang them up on her clothes line. He had never understood why she'd had a clothes line out back until he watched her hanging up the towels through the window. "We never have to work like this at home."

"This house is bigger than ours. And they really just work on Sundays."

"Except the dishes." Alvin could easily recall Brittany constantly complaining about ruining her manicures because of dishes.

"Where's Miss Miller?" Simon asked as he carried his soaked sweater back in. "I…have no idea where her washing machine is." His brothers paused to stare. "Do you?"

"No," they replied together.

"Ah, Simon, this way," Miss Miller said as she mindlessly led him away.

…X…

"No wonder the boys always want to hang out on Sundays," Brittany giggled with glee as she scooped into her ice cream. The Chipettes had put their money together and gotten Dave's permission to go get sundaes. Of course there was a camera man that had been hiding out in his van who was now following them. "They don't have to clean house!"

"But you know it's the only time they really have off from cleaning," Jeanette said. "Remember? Alvin is always complaining about all their chores."

"That's because half of the stuff we do as part of our lifestyles they do as chores because they need to be ordered to clean rather than straight off just doing it."

"I think that's just Alvin," Eleanor said. "He's just like you when it comes to cleaning though. A big complainer."

"Hey! And what proof do you have that the other two aren't as messy as Alvin?"

"Well, Simon's bookcase and his lab are very organized," Jeanette said. "Alvin's video games on the other hand…are spilled out everywhere."

"And all of Theodore's stuff is all put away nicely," Eleanor added. "Alvin's stuff is just crammed under his bed."

"You have a point there," Brittany giggled. The room was incredibly comfortable, they had to admit. They were quite happy curling up and sleeping once the day was done. Dave even came by and tucked them in. Miss Miller checked in on them, but she didn't tuck them in at night. Brittany couldn't help but wonder if Dave tucked the boys in every night or if he was just treating them special because they were his guests. Or because they were girls…Dave was a courteous man. Perhaps he was just being chivalrous.

"We are allowed to go to the boys' concert, aren't we?" Jeanette suddenly asked.

"I'd assume so," Brittany mumbled through her ice cream. "It's not like they can keep us away. We already had backstage passes before we were picked."

"We had the passes before the boys knew they were going to perform," Eleanor giggled. "I suppose that's what happens when you're best friends with rock stars."

"We're rock stars too!"

"Not as big as the boys."

"Um…you guys didn't happen to catch what time Dave said he wanted us back by, did you?" Jeanette said as she glanced at the clock.

"Jeanette, we just left," Brittany said.

"Yeah. Almost two hours ago."

"It can't have been two hours already!"

"You did decide to go window shopping for a while."

"Hey, you enjoyed yourself too. I know you want that necklace you saw."

"But I'd never wear it so why bother?"

"Because you probably would wear it. Remember we're going to do that joint concert with the boys for Christmas this year? You could wear it then. Why not ask Simon to get it for you?" Jeanette blushed, knowing exactly why her sister had brought Simon up. It had been completely obvious for months now that Jeanette was completely crushing on Simon. Everyone had always grouped them together, but Jeanette had just seen him as a best friend before. But the more she hung out with him the more she got that fluttery feeling whenever they hung out alone together doing homework or something. Sure they were only ten years old, but that didn't chase the butterflies away.

"I can get it myself if I want it Brittany."

"Well, you could have," Eleanor said as she looked at her ice cream guiltily. "You put the most money into this treat after all…Thanks by the way."

"No problem. What good is a frugal sister if she doesn't splurge a little sometimes? I am related to Brittany after all. I can't spend money needlessly."

"I resent that!" Brittany retorted. Jeanette attempted to glare at her elder sister, but it quickly melted into a smile. She couldn't help but start giggling. "What? What is it?"

"You have ice cream on your nose." Brittany scrunched it up as she looked at her nose. The good thing about being chipmunks was that it was easier to see their noses. They didn't have to go completely cross-eyed to accomplish the task. "Here." Brittany happily accepted the napkin her sister offered her. She leaned in closer to her sisters, dropping her voice to avoid being picked up by the camera man.

"I hope they don't put that on TV."

"You know they will," Eleanor whispered back. "It's everyday stuff, but America at large will eat it up. And it'll help our popularity as singers too, so you shouldn't be complaining too much."

…X…

"This is great!" Theodore cheered to Miss Miller as she served them slices of a pie she'd baked once they'd finished up their chores. It was about five and they'd already eaten dinner. Dinner time at the Miller household was, apparently, a whole hour before dinner at the Seville residence. "You're a really good cook Miss Miller."

"Thank you Theodore. Oh, I wonder how the girls are doing…"

"Don't worry about them," Alvin mumbled around a bite of pie. "Dave is a great cook. He's probably putting more care into making sure they're happy than he does into taking care of us."

"Alvin!" Simon hissed, trying to remind his brother of the cameras.

"What? Just saying. He's a nice guy and I'd probably do that too. If my kids switched with some others I'd probably put extra effort into make those other kids comfortable. Just to try to ease the awkwardness."

"You think about having kids?" Simon stared at his brother.

"Your time machine said I was gonna have twins someday."

"With…" Theodore started, only to have his eldest brother shush him.

"But never mind that. This pie is great! And I can't wait until school tomorrow. Everyone's going to be talking about us because we're on the hottest TV show around."

"Not just us," Simon reminded him. "The girls are going to get pretty popular too thanks to this. What I'm worrying about is our concert…We don't have Dave to practice with…"

"We have a list of the songs, right? I'll play them and we'll practice them on our own. It'll be fine…"

"Miss Miller?" Theodore asked as he poured some whipped cream on his slice of pie.

"Yes?" the old lady replied.

"Do you have a piano?"

"I'm sorry dears, but I'm afraid I don't."

"You were saying, Alvin?" Simon asked.

"We'll find a way…even if we have to practice by listening to our own CDs," the eldest declared.

…X…

"Um…Girls," Dave said as he set their plates down on the table. "You have to make sure to get back on time next time, alright? It shouldn't take almost three hours to go get ice cream."

"Sorry Dave," Eleanor said sweetly. It was plenty obvious they'd been wandering around town. "Brittany saw something in a store window that she liked so she had to go in and see how much it cost."

"But it turned out that they were sold out of it," Jeanette added. That was all truth…just not the full truth. "So we ended up searching the whole store for something they only had a display of. And the piece in the display was on hold for someone else." More truths. The girls were masters of telling no lies, but telling just enough truth to seem completely innocent. The fact of the matter was that Brittany had dragged them into several stores to look at stuff she liked. That was what had taken them so long. She'd done it again once they'd finished their ice cream, stating that Dave wouldn't mind. The boys spent all afternoon at the mall on Sundays sometimes, so what could be wrong with them hanging out around town?

"Alright, just remember for next time though." Dave sighed as he watched them pick up their forks and knives and dig in like completely civilized people. Even Simon sometimes got a little messy with his food. All three of the girls looked like they'd been to finishing school or something as they sat in their chairs, backs straight, daintily eating their food. It was just how they ate naturally, but it was still an almost complete one-eighty from the boys.

"Are you going to sit down?" Eleanor asked shyly. It was almost awkward between them. Dave was alright with looking after them. He'd seen them around enough to get comfortable with them. But it was still strange without the boys around with the girls.

"Yeah, sorry. Just thinking."

"You miss the boys, don't you?" Jeanette said. "If it makes you feel any better, we really miss Miss Miller already too. But it's just two weeks. And we're all friends so it's going to be easier than if we were all complete strangers, right?" Dave smiled as he attempted to not come off as rude or piggish to the girls. Sure he was older and had had more practice with table manners than his boys had, but he still got lazy from time to time, just like anyone. It amazed him how the girls had come from complete poverty and were yet still so refined in their actions.


	6. Bickering

Wow...I almost posted chapter 7 for you guys. I really thought I'd already put up chapter six...Ain't that just sad?

Anyway, this is all repeats for you guys. Please, if you haven't put your twenty cents into my poll yet, please do (and if you didn't pick two options, please go back and pick your other one...there's the pairings options and there's the story-themes options, and you can pick one of each...or you can pick the star, which means you want to see me write something other than a Chipmunk fic). Sign my petition if you haven't yet...Spread it to others if you haven't yet...

Here's something new though: I'm working on a picture for this story! Sort of like a title page, much like they had at the Seville Library. I just sketched that out today so be looking for it on my DA in the next week or so (as soon as I finish my 'Beauty and the Beast' spoofed picture for Simon and Jeanette....).

And...How about an art opportunity for you guys (if you so desire)? If you want, you can try to draw either side of this chapter (I mean when the girls go home and Eleanor and Jeanette are talking to Dave or when the boys go home and Simon and Theodore are talking to Miss Miller). I'm curious to see how you guys interpret it. You don't have to if you don't want to, but the picture Charisma drew for The Lessons They Teach really warmed my heart (I litterally squealed when I saw it) and when Simanette drew Koda...Oh, I was so happy! So if you want, give it a try. But most important, HAVE FUN.

Hmm...I might just make a contest out of this...

Sure! Why not? If you draw me a picture from any of my stories (from here on out...sorry Charisma, that means you have no advantages since I just came up with this) until I get around to writing 'Hero' (working title...I don't want to copy Narf with his 'Unlikely Hero' title), I'll try to fit you into that one (that's the one with the most OCs, most of them around the ages 9-12, just so ya know). So go ahead and try that if you're interested!

**AND DON'T FORGET: Sign my petition to let Ross and Janice know that we want to see more of the cartoon Chipmunks (and not just the old episodes either...the Chipmunk Adventure needs to be shown on TV as well as the fact that they need to make _more)_.**

* * *

_Switched_

**Chapter 6: Bickering**

"So…" Brittany started as she stared at Simon's paper. All six of them were in the park working on their homework, since they weren't allowed to go home and of course libraries forbade talking. The temperature outside had them all in jackets, but there was no wind so it was quite comfortable. Jeanette had completely given up on her older sister and turned to help Theodore and Eleanor. Alvin seemed to be doing just fine on his own…At least, he hadn't said anything since they'd sat down.

"So what?" Simon finally asked, annoyed with the feeling that her word had left in the air.

"Never mind." He rolled his eyes and glanced over to h is elder brother. It was so un-like Alvin to remain silent for so long. But they were all having trouble keeping their mouths shut about home life. They wanted so badly to talk about how Dave and Miss Miller were doing, but the camera men were watching them like eagles. Which also brought up the point that they'd have to be careful with their words. Who knew what the camera could pick up?

"That's it!" Alvin finally yelled as he threw his pencil at his paper.

"Trouble with homework?" Simon asked.

"No."

"Then what's wrong?"

"I'm just so…frustrated! Do you even realize that the most we've said to each other all day is 'let's go to the park to do our homework'?" He was looking straight into Brittany's baby-blue eyes as he said that, but the look in his own eyes kept her from speaking.

"We're just trying hard not to say something that's against the rules," Eleanor finally said for her. "I want so badly to ask how Sunday chores went, but we can't."

"I want to know what you did yesterday," Theodore replied. "That's not off-limits, right? Seeing as you guys probably went out…Dave always lets us go do something on Sunday afternoons." All six glanced over to see if the camera men were coming to break them up.

"We got ice cream," Jeanette said. "And Brittany took us window shopping."

"Just window shopping?" Alvin asked as he finally diverted his eyes.

"We put the last of our money together to get the ice cream."

"There was such a gorgeous necklace in that one store," Brittany said, playing with her hair a bit as she used her eyes to hint to Alvin. "It would look just perfect with my new dress…But I suppose I can get that any time." Her hinting eyes turned to accuse Jeanette. "What surprised me was that Jeanette found something that she adored."

"Brittany!"

"What? Is it a crime to tell the boys that you liked a lovely necklace?" Jeanette squirmed on her spot on the bench. It was quite clear that she'd caught Simon's attention. "It would be perfect for our Christmas concert with the boys…but knowing you, you'll never, ever buy it for yourself. And I'm quite sure you'd never just ask anyone for it…"

"So why don't you get it for her?" Alvin said as he kept his eyes from glancing at Brittany. He was not going to be convinced to buy her another anything. He'd wasted too much money on her fashion-diva needs already. They were only ten years old and she was already hogging up all his money like they were married rock stars!

"Because I'm saving up for that necklace to go with my dress. I just wouldn't feel fully dressed without it. Of course, if someone were to buy me the necklace, then I could get my sweet little sister something for the concert."

"Forget it! You've borrowed too much of my money already."

"Borrowed?"

"You had money for her to borrow?" Simon asked his brother, laughter in his voice.

"Why do you think I'm broke all the time?" Alvin hissed back. "It's her fault." It was all Simon could do to contain his laughter. He'd always assumed that his elder brother was out buying new toys or something, and he'd never really bothered to check. When he really thought about it, Alvin rarely brought anything home for himself.

"Aw, Alvin," Brittany said as sweetly as she could manage while still not going over-board. "You know you always want to look good on stage, and of course when I look good, so do you. You know, since we're such a tight-knit group."

"We are not a group, Brittany. We are we, the Chipmunks, and you are you, The Chipettes. We sing together sometimes because we're helping you on your rise to fame. You really should be more grateful!" Alvin leaped off the bench and started to walk towards home, ignoring anything else Brittany was about to say to try to sway him. She was a very ungrateful brat! At least he knew how to say 'thank-you' when people gave him stuff. He'd rarely heard her utter any of those words (please, thank-you, or sorry).

"Alvin!" his brothers were calling as they tried to stuff all of their papers into their bags and still hold onto his. "Alvin! Don't go home!"

"Why not?" He spun around and glared at them.

"Because we're not allowed to!" Theodore squeaked. His glare weakened as he remembered that rule. But the glare that Brittany was giving him forced him to turn around.

"Then I'll see you at Miss Miller's house! You don't have to follow me you know!"

"Oh yes we do," Simon countered. "Without Dave, you need someone that understands you perfectly to keep you from getting into trouble." The boys caught up with him, hurrying to get him out of the park before Jeanette and Eleanor lost control of their sister (they were holding Brittany back from chasing after Alvin).

…X…

The boys all dropped their bags by the door as they walked into the house. There was the smell of dinner in the kitchen, but no way to tell where Miss Miller was. Still, as if on cue, Simon sneezed as soon as Alvin shut the door. "That's it Simon!" he scolded.

"Alvin…"

"You haven't been sneezing all day and just suddenly when we come into this house you start up again?"

"I'm not allergic to this house Alvin!"

"Simon, I've noticed it for a while but I never thought much of it. Every time we come here to visit the Chipettes you start sneezing! Don't tell me you've suddenly become allergic to cats?"

"That's impossible? Remember Cookie?"

"How can I ever forget Cookie? Simon…You're allergic to something. What else is here that isn't at home?"

"A lot. She uses different cleaners for her windows and counters, she has perfume, different air fresheners, and who knows what else? Alvin, it could be anything that's just tickling my nose. I'll be fine. We've been here two whole days already and the worst of it is still just sneezing. I think I'll manage."

"Manage what?" they heard Miss Miller say. They glanced around in the other rooms, unable to find the old lady. "Over here, dears!" The boys hurried into the kitchen, finding her in a pantry tapping her chin with her finger. "I can't decide what vegetable we'll have with dinner tonight. Beans maybe?" Alvin and Simon made a point of making a 'yuck' sound.

"I like beans," Theodore chirped.

"But we don't," Alvin said.

"Well, all I have left are beans," Miss Miller said, then entirely changed the subject. "Dave dropped off your stuff earlier."

"Our…stuff?"

"Your guitars and that drum set. So you can practice for that concert of yours."

"Did he drop off the music? The order?" Simon leaned against the door frame, amazed at how well Alvin was taking charge.

"Of course he did. Oh! And I gave him the tickets he'd given me earlier for the girls."

"Huh?"

"The backstage tickets that he'd reserved for the girls before all the rest of the tickets were sold…"

"Wait!" Simon interrupted. "Has he been advertising this already? How did we not notice?"

"He's as sly as you boys are you know."

"So we're gonna see Dave Saturday?" Theodore asked. "It'd only be fair because the girls would be able to see you."

"We'll see boys, we'll see." All three hearts dropped at the sound of that.

"The girls will be there…" Alvin whispered. Then, without warning, he turned around and stormed out of the room.

"Alvin!" his brothers called to him.

"What's wrong?" Miss Miller asked them.

"He had a fight with Brittany today," Simon explained. "Not that I blame him…she was way out of line."

"What was she doing?"

"Trying to get him to buy her something."

"More stuff? Alvin has gotten her so much already…"

"That's what he said," Theodore added.

"Well, you must remember the world Brittany has come from. She spent most of her life dreaming of having what she has now, and now so much is dangling in front of her nose and she doesn't want to miss a second of it. She's certainly not used to getting everything she dreams of having…and getting all that makes her expect to get even more. It's right of him to say 'no' to her. She needs to know that she can't have the whole world just by batting her pretty little eyes. They'll both get over it by Saturday, I'm sure."

"We can only hope," Simon said. "Otherwise the entire night…well, it won't be normal. Alvin always performs better when he and Brittany are on good terms with each other. The last time I can remember them being mad at each other through a concert…eh…" A sneeze ended up cutting off whatever he was about to say.

"It was bad," Theodore said for his brother. "Alvin was really flat the whole time."

"Mmhm. He even forgot some of the words, remember?" Theodore nodded.

"Hmm…." Miss Miller hummed. "Perhaps if they haven't made up by Friday I'll intervene. I know what she likes after all…" Simon and Theodore stared at their temporary guardian questioningly, but they figured that Miss Miller knew best when it came to Brittany's temper tantrums.

…X…

"Grrrrr-aaah!" Brittany howled as her sisters tried to walk calmly into the house.

"Brittany, it's not that bad!" Eleanor tried to say, but her sister seemed to be deaf. She merely stomped up the stairs, leaving her sisters staring up at her. Eleanor calmly sat down on the bottom step while Jeanette used the bottom three steps to lay down.

"What's wrong?" Dave asked as he came in, rubbing his hands with a towel. From the looks of him, he'd been washing dishes. Poorly. It was quite obvious that the boys were more used to it than he was by now, considering how soaked he was.

"Brittany's just grouchy," Jeanette whispered, almost adding that her sister just needed a nap. Like anyone else that acted like a toddler, perhaps a nap would cure Brittany's crankiness.

"But she was way out of line," Eleanor added, crossing her arms. "She really needs to stop it. Every time she wants something, it's always 'this will look so pretty on me…and then we'll look good together!' or…"

"Or 'we won't be complete without this.' I love that one."

"She uses that whenever she wants to get a new hat." Dave stared at them, completely confused. "She needs to stop it! I mean sure, they are both immature, but Alvin is so much more mature than she is!" Now there was something that Dave could understand. Brittany and Alvin had had a fight. Nothing new there…But it left him to wonder if this was how Brittany always acted whenever the two fought. Alvin sure didn't show too many signs that he was upset after fights, but Brittany was upstairs screaming.

"She'll grow out of it, I think…"

"When did she grow into it?"

"When we started making money…When we made enough for her to spoil herself. You know, if she didn't waste most of our extra money on herself then we'd probably have ended up spoiling ourselves too?"

"I doubt it. She's always loved herself first." Jeanette closed her eyes, content to just rest there on the steps. The carpeted stairs were much more comfortable than the hard-wood stairs that the two always sat on back home.

"Dave? How did you get Alvin to be so…eh…" Eleanor stumbled for the right word. He certainly wasn't 'good,' but he was a far cry better than Brittany.

"Not too sure. I just know that when the chance to do the right thing comes up, he usually takes it out of the goodness of his heart," Dave replied honestly. But then he figured that they'd probably need an explanation for that, especially since 'the chance to do the right thing' had once been ignored when Alvin had dragged his brothers around the world in a hot air balloon. "One time he was trying to save up money for a really expensive new toy, and I made him get a job rather than begging money off us. So he went out and got a job at the zoo. Of course he didn't tell us that he was working at the zoo. Anyway, he got paid the amount he needed, but he didn't quit. He was determined to help the manager fix up all the problems within the zoo, probably because of how attached he'd grown to the animals."

"How'd he do that?"

"Oh, random things. He had an animal car wash and he organized a small concert. Of course he didn't let us in on that either, who knows why. Eventually he managed to raise almost enough money, and the money he didn't raise…well, he gave back the money he'd earned in order to finish off what needed to be done. But enough about Alvin…Brittany has her perks too."

"Like what?"

"Like…remember the Celebrity Circus? Didn't she decide to participate in that to save that circus?" Eleanor nodded, glancing over to her sister. Jeanette appeared to be asleep already. "And what about when you girls volunteered at the hospital? I'm sure there's plenty other times…"

"Yeah…Her determination kept us from starving to death when we lived in New York…and she was the one that actually got us to America in the first place."

"See? She is good. She just needs…guidance, I suppose."

"Miss Miller tries, she really does…But she's a little too air-headed to notice all the little things."

"Isn't that where you two come in?"

"Yeah…But Brittany doesn't usually listen to us."

"She may not listen, but she does hear you." Eleanor smiled, wishing that Miss Miller could manage deep conversations like that. The old lady was fun and caring, but sometimes the modern world was just too far above her head.

"Jeanette…" Eleanor started shaking her sister's shoulder. "Jeanette…?" She put on a mischievous grin and leaned in close to her sister. "Hey, Jenny-Jeanie? Time to wake up!"

"Don't call me that!" Jeanette complained. Those were both random nicknames that fans sometimes put in their letters. Half the population called her Jenny, the other half called her Jeanie. And she didn't like either nick name.

"We've got homework to finish, remember?" Jeanette sighed and sat up, smiling at Dave as her sister dragged her upstairs.


	7. Breaking the Rules

It's been a while since I updated...Anywho, I'm falling behind. I started posting this when I was on chapter seven. I am currently on chapter eleven. I've been slacking. But no surprise. Scapino rehersals are every day (and opening night is just over a week away). Today we practiced carrying Cody to the stage. It was kinda hard because he had his elbow wrapped up and we had to be careful because he gave blood today and he (as well as the rest of the cast that's over 17) was a little dizzy/woozy/ect/ect/ect. That light-headedness. Although a couple kids had issues because the people couldn't find their veins. One person had both elbows wrapped. One of the cast members was going to give blood and fainted so they told him that he couldn't. There were so many stories...quite interesting actually. It makes me wonder...If the Chipmunks, Chipettes, and Dave ever gave blood, who would pass out? Who would merely be woozy/kinda sick for the rest of the day? Who would be PERFECTLY fine with it? Ah, just something to think about. Why don't you guys tell me? (No, it's not a story idea...It's just one of those...character analasys things...Something that writer like me does. We tend to get into the inner workings of the minds of who we're writing for, be that our own characters or someone elses. At least, that's why I always try to do).

Oh, and please keep me in check. Let me know if the characters are getting out of character (mainly keep an eye on Dave and Miss Miller...Miss Miller is the hardest character for me to work with).

(PS: Is anyone else annoyed with the new layout of the Fanfic profiles? I had a little trouble finding anything...I suppose I'll get used to it eventually, but the old set-up was so much simpler and easier to navigate.)

**AND DON'T FORGET: Sign my petition to let Ross and Janice know that we want to see more of the cartoon Chipmunks (and not just the old episodes either...the Chipmunk Adventure needs to be shown on TV as well as the fact that they need to make _more)_.**

* * *

_Switched_

**Chapter 7: Breaking the Rules**

Jeanette leaned against Brittany as the girls sat in the doctor's office. She'd been feeling under the weather since Monday afternoon and normal cold medicine hadn't been helping at all, so Dave had gone ahead and scheduled her for an appointment. Brittany's frustration with Alvin had cooled off as her sister had gotten worse, and now she was rubbing Jeanette's shoulder as the smartest of the Chipettes burst into a coughing fit.

Eleanor was explaining to the secretary (that obviously didn't watch 'Switched') that they'd been picked for a little exchange program, so that was why Dave hadn't filled out that he was their guardian on the paperwork. It took a lot of convincing, but a nurse finally came by and assured the secretary that the story was completely true. Eleanor hurried back over to her elder sister's side, reaching up to push some of Jeanette's hair out of her face. While Jeanette's hair was still in its usual bun, it was extremely messy. Brittany had tried to put it up for her sister that morning, but she'd found out that she wasn't so great at buns.

"Jeanette Miller?" the nurse called and instantly both her sisters leaped up to help her. Dave watched for any signs that they wanted him to follow, but they didn't even glance back. Everything seemed perfectly fine. He merely pulled his coat closer and closed his eyes as the bell rang to signify someone else coming in. There was certainly plenty of sneezing coming from whoever it was…

"We're just going to make sure…" he heard a familiar old voice calling and his eyes snapped open. Standing up at the counter was Miss Miller and his boys. It was quite obvious they hadn't noticed him yet, and the people with the show hadn't interrupted yet. He was pretty sure that this was all legal by the rules.

"It's just an allergy," Alvin said, only to get a glare from Simon.

"I'm not sick and I don't have any allergies!" Simon declared.

"You keep saying that yet you keep sneezing…" Alvin shrugged his shoulder as Simon sneezed twice more. "See?"

"It's just..."

"Don't even try to tell me that that's normal! We're brothers Simon, I live with you. You don't sneeze this much at home! You, dear little brother, are allergic to something in Miss Miller's house!" Simon sneezed again, only this time the sneeze turned into a cough.

"It's that cough that's got me worried he's getting sick," Miss Miller said.

"I'm fine!" Simon insisted. He turned away from the three, crossing his arms defiantly. He knew he wasn't sick and he'd never been allergic to anything before in his life. Why would that just suddenly change? His ears picked up snickering from someone in the room and he glanced over to a man in a brown coat. As soon as that man's hands dropped, Simon ran over and leaped up to hug him.

"Hey!" Dave said with a smile, hugging his son back. As soon as the other two heard that, they ran to his side too.

"Hey yourself!" Theodore chirped. "We've missed you."

"What are you doing here?" Miss Miller croaked.

"Jeanette's been feeling sick lately," Dave explained.

"She has looked pretty awful lately," Simon agreed. Then all of them glanced around, checking to see if they were violating any rules. There wasn't even a camera in sight.

"Must be taking a coffee break," Alvin whispered as he tried his best to hold onto the window ledge (which he was holding onto so he could see out the window) while looking out for them.

"So how have you three been?" Dave asked them.

"Great," Theodore giggled. "Miss Miller is a much better cook than we though she was."

"Thank you Theodore," Miss Miller said, not even noticing the last part of his sentence. "And how have the girls been?"

"Just fine," Dave replied. "Well, other than Jeanette's cold." Suddenly everything felt a little awkward, and none of them could quite explain why. Perhaps it was just because the rules had forbidden them from doing this and now they were breaking them. But the air was broken as a nurse called for Simon. He glanced at Dave, knowing full well Dave couldn't do anything, then over at Miss Miller, not really wanting her to come with him to keep him company. It wasn't too hard for his brothers to pick up on that hint, so they latched onto him and pulled him through the door.

"This isn't normal," the nurse whispered to them.

"Well, a doctor's appointment with Miss Miller is more than a little strange," Alvin replied.

"I saw that you guys were picked. Kinda stinks that you only switched with your friends. Find out anything you didn't know before?"

"The girls do a lot of housework," Theodore mumbled.

"Miss Miller doesn't seem as senile when you put up with her like she was your mother or something," Alvin added. Simon just stayed quiet, glancing around to see if there was any trace of the girls in the halls. He was really worried about Jeanette. Even if it was a natural part of life, Jeanette never seemed to get sick.

"Wait!" Simon said suddenly, pulling away from his brothers. "You guys wait here. I'll be right back…there's something I have to ask Dave."

"What could it be that we'd have to wait here?" Alvin asked.

"I just…don't want to trouble you." Simon put on his best face, but Alvin still cracked up.

"Simon, you are a terrible liar. I mean, sure, you can come up with some good ones…but when it comes to the simple stuff, you just can't lie, can you?"

"I suppose it's more like I can't lie to you two. Just wait here." Simon spun around and ran back to Dave, glancing back to make sure they hadn't followed as he hopped up in the chair.

"What's wrong?" Dave asked.

"I…I want to…Um…Well…" He took a deep breath, letting everything come out at once. "Brittany was talking about how the girls went window shopping and how Jeanette liked something and I really want to get something for Jeanette but I have no clue where to look because I don't know where they went and I don't know what it was that she liked so could you possibly maybe figure out some way to find out what it was?" Dave blinked, Simon's eyes dropped to the ground.

"You're lucky I understood that…" Simon glanced up, almost cracking up in laughter himself. "I'll think of something, don't worry."

"Hey!" they heard someone calling from the door. "You guys aren't supposed to be talking…it's against the show rules…What are you doing here anyway?"

"You guys lost us, didn't you?" Simon said.

"Well…my partner wasn't feeling too well so he only got a shot of you guys breaking the rules…I…em…Never mind."

"Jeanette's sick and Miss Miller doesn't know what's up with me. We both had appointments around the same time. Happy?"

"So why are you breaking the rules?"

"Personal matters," Dave said, giving Simon a nudge toward the door. "Now go on before the doctor gets mad." Simon nodded and gave Dave one more hug before hurrying back to his waiting brothers.

"Well?" Alvin said, tapping his foot.

"We're in trouble," Simon said. "The camera guys caught it on tape...I don't know why they didn't say something earlier, but that's probably going to be on TV and in that last-day interview."

"And then we're going to get all sorts of mail complaining about that…great. Just because we wanted to hug our dad." Alvin shook his head. "That's just unfair."

"Those are the rules we signed to."


	8. Nightmares

I think this update is a tad bit premautre (in case you haven't noticed, I don't usually update until it's off the first page of stories), but the next couple of days are going to be thick with our final rehersal (tomorrow) and then our show. It's Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, with a spaghetti dinner that we're putting on before the show Saturday. Right now, my biggest personal worry is that my curls won't be properly curled and I'll look like a big mistake on stage...My biggest worry for the show is that the cast members with lines won't have all their lines memorized...Three of them had to stop and say 'line' flat out today, one of them carried their script around with them (the main character, no less...and he's an amazing actor, but something must be getting in his way of practicing and memorizing)...ect ect ect. It's coming together nicely...After the bad rep it had when we heard that we were doing it, it sure turned out great (according to people that had read the script earlier, it was a disastor waiting to happen, just because of how poorly written it is...But in reality, it's just so well written that until you act it out and really realize what's going on, it will look a bit dumb).

So enough of that ranting. Please, do enjoy chapter 8...Geeze, here I am answering everyone's prayers, only I'm answering them four or five chapters after what you're reading...(like you fluff lovers out there...I was in the process of working that in well before you asked for it...Please, when you suggest something, try to keep in mind that I'm right now in the middle of writing chapter 13).

One last note: At all times, please be thinking about weather they're in character or not. I need to know if I'm hitting the nail on the head with a hammer or if I'm driving a screw gun into the ground (completely missing the nail all together).

And on that note...I end my rant.

**AND DON'T FORGET: Sign my petition to let Ross and Janice know that we want to see more of the cartoon Chipmunks (and not just the old episodes either...the Chipmunk Adventure needs to be shown on TV as well as the fact that they need to make _more)_.**

* * *

_Switched_

**Chapter 8: ****Nightmares**

Alvin's eyes jolted open, his heart racing and his mind confused. It took him a few minutes to grasp that the darkness around him was indeed a bedroom, even if it wasn't his own. No…It was the Chipette's room and he was sleeping in Brittany's bed. He crawled out from under the blankets and tried to quietly reach the ground. Of course, not used to the silky sheets he ended up sliding to the ground. He heard both his brothers tossing in their sleep, but neither of them had woken up. He was just glad he hadn't woken up screaming…

He tried to creep as quietly as he could to the door, the floor creaking underneath him. Whenever he couldn't sleep or he had a nightmare (that he didn't wake up the rest of the house with) or just sometimes late at night for no reason, he'd creep downstairs and get a drink of something. Depending on the situation, it could be anything from pop to milk to water. Tonight called for chocolate milk, if Miss Miller had that. Five days in the house and he hadn't seen a sign that Miss Miller had ever even heard of chocolate milk.

He tentatively stepped out of the room, but the old floor underneath let out the loudest creak he'd ever heard. A quick glance back at his brothers told him they were still sleeping, so he hurried towards the stairs. "Al-vin?" Miss Miller said in her usual way. The southern twang in her voice was much more prominent tonight though. Perhaps it was just because his mind was still foggy from his nightmare. "What's the matter dear?"

"Just…couldn't sleep," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "I was going to go get a glass of milk."

"Just what I was after. Warm milk always puts me to sleep." Alvin grumbled a little under his breath as she led him down the stairs. "I had the strangest dream just now." Alvin really couldn't care less as he sat down at the table. He was trying to get his dream out of his mind. "The girls and I were floating down a river on that decrepit raft that we found on our way to that one gig in…"

"When Brittany had to ride a mule and shovel coal and do the dishes only to find out she was the star of the boat. She didn't leave out a single detail."

"Right. Well, the raft fell apart in this dream, just like in real life. Except this time, instead of finding a boat to carry us on our way, we all got swept down the river and pushed over a waterfall. I tried as hard as I could, but the girls and I were separated…Frightful dream. I don't know what I'd do if anything ever happened to them."

"That's nothing. In my dream we were all going to play at the biggest gig of our lives. We'd been invited to perform in front of the White House! But no one showed up. Even the president himself wasn't there. It was a ghost town. But we started playing anyway, and Brittany kept getting in my way. So we ended up fighting and as we fought this huge black hole opened up in the sky and sucked up Dave and Simon and Theodore! Then it got you and the girls…and the instruments…and everything!" Alvin felt his heart racing just recalling the emotions he'd felt in that dream. It wasn't so much that what happened was frightening…it was that he could feel the wind, smell the air…taste the dirt that had been flowing around. It had been completely real.

"My. No wonder you need a glass of milk." He heard her microwave beep and smiled as she set the glass in front of him. He'd have much preferred chocolate milk, but as he sipped the warm milk he did find it quite soothing. He turned to stand up and walk around while he was drinking, just something to get the energy out of his not-so-tired legs. As he picked the glass up, they heard two ear-splitting screams from upstairs. It got him to drop the glass so that it shattered across the floor.

"Simon! Theodore!" Due to his young age, he was upstairs in under a minute. It took Miss Miller considerably longer to get to the two boys. Theodore had pulled Eleanor's comforter around him and was a lump in the middle of his bed. Simon had fallen clean out of bed and was just laying there trying to get his bearings. "Nightmares?"

"That was…so real…" Simon gasped out as Alvin went over to help him up.

"Join the club. We've got milk." Simon looked at him in confusion, but the blurry blot that was his brother gave him a headache. He reached for his glasses, only to hear them clatter to the floor. For the second time that night, Alvin heard cracking glass.

"Please tell me…"

"Sorry. That was your glasses." Alvin reached over to pick them up. "Well, look at it this way. It's only one side that broke." Simon groaned as Alvin brushed away the specks of glass and held them up for his brother to put on. But a sharp edge caught his eye and he merely set them on the nightstand. "Well, Miss Miller can always order you a new pair."

"Pair of what?" Miss Miller asked as she finally got up the stairs. "I have to hurry and clean up that milk and glass downstairs, is everything alright up here?'

"Just two more nightmares…" Alvin glanced over to Theodore. The youngest was peeking out from under his covers. He was starting to wish he'd run over to Theodore first. But because Simon had been on the floor Alvin had gone for him first…It was so hard being a triplet sometimes, especially when he had to pick between which of his younger brothers he'd help first.

"I'll go clean it up and get more milk for you three." Alvin led Simon over to Theodore's bed and they climbed up and wrapped their arms around the youngest.

"I want Dave!" Theodore whispered through the cover.

"It sure would be nice to have his reassurance," Simon added.

"You're telling me!" Alvin hissed. "I saw him getting sucked up into a black hole! I'd love to have him hug me right now just to make sure that this isn't the dream." Simon started snickering.

"Alvin, you never admit stuff like that. What's gotten into you?"

"Not having Dave around to do that without question." Simon sighed. There was no arguing with that. "So…what happened in your dreams?"

…X…

Brittany howled out in horror as she rolled out of her bed, tangled up in her blankets, barely missing the corner of the nightstand. Her sisters both woke up screaming as loud as they could also, just because of being shaken from their dreams in such a manner. It didn't even matter that they'd been having good dreams up until that point…as soon as Brittany started screaming their dreams had turned sour.

"What's wrong?" Dave exclaimed as he kept one hand on the doorframe, his eyes wide and his heart racing. It sounded like the three were burning alive. There was just no calming the screaming. Well, Brittany at least. Her sisters calmed down after a few moments and just sat there, eyes wide, as they tried to calm down. Brittany's howl turned into a few weak sobs before she balled up on the floor. "Are you girls alright?"

"I…yeah," Eleanor said, taking in a deep breath. "That doesn't always happen, I promise. Just whenever Brittany has a really bad dream, she always wakes up screaming…and her screams usually make our dreams change into bad ones and then we wake up screaming because our dreams scare us that bad…"

"It's a cycle," Jeanette whispered as she groped for her glasses. Eleanor had already hopped down and was trying to coax Brittany to sit up. Dave took a few deep breaths himself, trying to calm down. Alvin had only woken up screaming a few times before, and his screams didn't really get the rest of them going too. So he did what he knew to do. He went over and pulled Brittany up off the floor and hugged the little ball. She was still wrapped up in her blankets, but she started to calm down.

"Miss Miller usually goes straight for the milk," Jeanette said as she walked over, putting her glasses on.

"Do you three want some chocolate milk than?" Dave asked as he tried to pry the blankets away from Brittany's head. Now she was struggling to untangle herself.

"Chocolate?" Eleanor whispered. "We…we've never had chocolate milk. Miss Miller always gives us big glasses of warm milk."

"Warm milk? I'm afraid I've never really warmed up milk before…I'd probably mess it up trying now. The boys seem to be just as comforted by chocolate milk. You want to try it?"

"Sure," Jeanette said between two sneezes. She was much better than she'd been earlier, but she was still coughing and sneezing. Brittany was jealous that she was allowed to miss two days of school already, and Jeanette was the one that was getting to know Dave best. He certainly was a mother of a father. Dave even carried Brittany downstairs, since her mind was still racing too much for her to really even walk straight. They all sat down at the table as he made the chocolate milk, waiting to hear him ask them what the dream had been about. But he didn't. He just went on preparing their drinks.

"What happened?" Eleanor asked her sister sweetly.

"Well," Brittany said, but then she lost her voice. She clenched her eyes and shook her head. "Everyone…everyone was there. But all of you were like background noise…just something that was there…It was mainly about me and Alvin…and…and…" She couldn't say it, so Jeanette hugged her and let her be silent for a few moments.

"In my dream gone wrong, we were all at a concert and we all met our biggest idols, and then suddenly everything just turned upside down…there were monsters and natural disasters and everything." Brittany giggled. Jeanette seemed so down to earth and sensible, but her dreams could get so weird.

"Mine was at the restaurant that's on the Eiffel Tower," Eleanor added. "We were all sitting down to dinner when this huge earthquake happened! The tower collapsed underneath it and I was separated from you two…I don't even know if you survived in my dream or not." Dave set their drinks in front of them and then sat down himself. He figured it'd be weirder if he just up and left the room.

"A-a-a…" Brittany tried, but she couldn't take her eyes off Dave. Even if it was just a dream, it was still weird telling Alvin's dad what had happened to the poor boy in it. "Well…Some stuff happened…"

"We figured that much," Jeanette teased, getting a glare from her sister. Glares and giggles were good. It meant that the fear was melting away.

"But we ended up in this awful situation. I was hanging out of a hot air balloon…those goons from Antarctica were after me and him…Not the dolls or the diamonds…they wanted revenge."

"How do you know that?" Eleanor asked.

"It's one of those dream feelings…You just know. I don't know why those two wanted revenge, but they did…They did…" She wrapped her arms around her stomach. "It was so real…I was hanging on by a rope, you guys had already been captured…Alvin was the only one actually in the balloon. He was trying to pull me up…he was, he was…"

"Then what?" Jeanette said sweetly, rubbing her sister's back.

"Then someone else…It may have even been Claudia, I couldn't really tell…They just appeared in the basket and they grabbed onto him and threw him out! There was a cliff there…it was such a long drop…" Eleanor was on her other side. For the first time, Dave could really see how much Alvin really meant to Brittany. All he usually saw was the two of them bickering, but now Brittany was so upset over a dream where something happened to Alvin. "The goons got me…And I don't remember if they threw us over the edge too…"

"That's when you woke up?"

"Yeah."

"Thank goodness," Eleanor whispered. "At least you didn't have to suffer that one until the end."


	9. Saturday Morning

Em...I don't think anyone mentioned if I've managed to keep all the characters actully in character or not, so I'll ask again for a review in that respect.

Second: If you haven't voted in my poll, get your booty over there NOW before you read this (or you shall feel guilty all through reading this...it will hurt your very SOUL).

Thirdly: Thanks to everyone for the support with the play (and for anyone who said good luck...(I don't remember if anyone did or not, but here's something to always remember)...NEVER say good luck. It brings bad luck. Always say 'break a leg' or else someone will do so...and someone almost did. Of course, she turned into our little star for not letting the pain show until she was backstage, but she did almost break her leg because someone wrote good luck on the board in the band room).

And...Now, last but not least: For anyone that hasn't figured it out by now, I'm a writer (doh!), but not just of fanfics. I've been working here and there on several different, ORIGINAL novels for the last four years, and now I have finally decided to pull out a few old ideas that I gave up on two years ago. That means...as soon as I get my laptop for Christmas (they HAVE to get me a laptop...if they don't I think I shall die) I'll finally start up on my novels again, now that I'm starting to really get everything squared away. It seems that there are two themes that always run with me: History, and adventure. Romance bores me, modern day bores me, and...well, a lot of stuff bores me. It's probably why I try to put so many twists in these little stories. Twists are fun to write and read, agreed?

**AND DON'T FORGET: Sign my petition to let Ross and Janice know that we want to see more of the cartoon Chipmunks (and not just the old episodes either...the Chipmunk Adventure needs to be shown on TV as well as the fact that they need to make _more)_.**

* * *

_Switched_

**Chapter 9: Saturday Morning**

Brittany was exhausted as Dave poured milk over their cereal the next morning. She almost dropped her head in the bowl, but Jeanette grabbed her by the shoulders to prevent that. Brittany hadn't been able to get back to sleep after that little nightmare, and it was up to Dave and her sister's to figure out how to wear her out enough to get her to lie down for a nap before the concert that night. There was no way she'd survive that long without sleep.

"What are we going to wear tonight?" Eleanor asked, trying to pick a topic that Brittany understood. "It's not too formal, is it?"

"I guess you could wear whatever you like," Dave said. "Maybe dress up a little extra. The boys don't know it, but there are a lot of big names that are going to be there tonight. Actors and actresses and producers and…" Every word was catching Brittany's attention. Her back straightened up and her neck was suddenly more able to hold up her head.

"How'd you get them all?" Jeanette asked in amazement.

"A lot of them were complaining about their work and how stressed they were, so I just went ahead and invited them. I think I started back August with the idea, and finally I had enough of them. It's just a relaxing, fun night for all those people."

"They are paying, aren't they?" Brittany asked.

"They're putting the whole thing on. It didn't cost us a cent. And the best part was that I didn't have to advertise the concert because it was already booked without trying."

"Oh no!" Everyone turned to stare at Brittany at her sudden outburst. "All our good dresses are back in our closets! We have _nothing_ to wear!"

"Brittany," Jeanette said gently. "You brought everything except our most special dresses."

"And we'd have to wear some of those dresses to fit in with the crowd!"

"Somehow I doubt that," Eleanor whispered. But an idea was already forming in Dave's head. And this idea would kill _three_ birds with one stone.

"Well, since Miss Miller has to buy the boys' outfits for tonight," Dave said, almost too aloofly for Jeanette to buy it, "I think it'd only be fair if I got you three some new dresses, just for the occasion."

"Really?" Brittany exclaimed with glee.

"You know that dress comes with shoes, make up, a trip to the hair salon…" Eleanor started rambling off, only to be hushed by her sister.

"_Just_ dresses," Dave said firmly.

"Of course!" Brittany agreed.

…X…

"Miss Miller, not to seem ungrateful or anything," Simon mumbled as the boys dug through the racks of clothes in front of them.

"Yes?" she said, drawing out the word until it made Simon even more uncomfortable.

"Shouldn't we have done this Monday or Tuesday?"

"Shouldn't we have had the opportunity to run over our songs?" Alvin added.

"Why would you want to run over them?"

"To make sure we hit all the right notes…"

"But you wouldn't be able to read them if you ran them over." Theodore cracked up, the only one getting the joke. Well, Miss Miller wasn't meaning to make a joke with that, but it was still funny.

"Huh?"

"She thinks you want to run over the music with a car or something," Theodore giggled.

"Even I missed that one," Simon snickered. It _was_ kind of funny.

"Look, Miss Miller?" Alvin sighed.

"What?" she replied.

"_Please_ let us handle this. We know all the perfect places to get the clothes we need for tonight."

"Oh, I won't bother you with that. There's plenty of nice things here."

"No, there's not." Simon wanted so badly to muffle his brother's words, but he couldn't lie for the sake of Miss Miller's feelings. Not this time…There was a concert at stake, and there really wasn't any clothing for them in this store.

"Oh?"

"Miss Miller," Theodore said sweetly, "we've been doing this for a very long time. You're just going to have to trust us."

"You boys sure there's nothing here?"

"Trust us," Simon mumbled. Their temporary guardian sighed dejectedly and turned to head for the car.

…X…

"I love this street!" Brittany squealed. It was a cute little street, filled from end to end with everything a young star could dream of. If the gift Simon wanted for Jeanette wasn't here, then Dave had no clue where to look. Either way, Brittany had finally gotten over her nightmare and all the girls seemed to be enjoying themselves. Brittany grabbed her younger sisters' hands and pulled them into the first dress shop that she noticed.

"We were just in here last Sunday," Jeanette hissed, only to be elbowed by her elder sister.

"I _know_. Why do you think I dragged you two back here? Let's try something on!" Jeanette signed and lingered behind a little as Brittany went around and started pulling down all the little dresses, each one seemingly tailor made for her. Eleanor didn't feel quite as comfortable in the shop, but she still checked out some of the dresses herself. But it was obvious that Jeanette was feeling the most shy of the three about spending Dave's money. Eleanor was tentative about it, checking every price tag before looking at the dress, but Jeanette couldn't even bring herself to reach out and even look at what her sisters were looking at.

"What's the matter?" Dave asked her.

"I just…Eh…" She glanced over at him, readjusting her glasses. "I'm sorry. It just feels so weird, having someone else buy something for me."

"The boys get you girls Christmas presents, don't they?"

"Yeah."

"And how do you suppose they get that money?"

"You give them money because they're professional singers and it'd be wrong to keep it all from them." Dave laughed at that.

"Well, I could put it all in a bank account to double-ensure their futures, so I don't _have_ to give them money from their concerts. In fact, I don't give them more than ten dollars above lunch money for any given week. And ten dollars is usually when they do extra chores because they want extra money…well, usually for gifts for you girls."

"Really?" Dave nodded.

"Besides, remember what I said? I forgot to get them something for the concert so Miss Miller has to buy them something. Naturally, it's only fair that I get you girls something since she has to spend extra money on them."

"You don't have to do that! It'd be fair even if you didn't!"

"I wouldn't feel right. Go on, enjoy yourself…Look over there. I think Brittany found something for you." Jeanette glanced over at her older sister and could have blushed. She disliked strapless dresses, but Brittany was holding a purple one up and glancing from it to Jeanette.

"No Brittany!" Jeanette scolded as she hurried to her sister's side, tripping over her feet in the process.

"Jeanette!" Brittany whined back. "You'd look _so_ gorgeous in this. At least try it on?"

"No!"

"Brittany," Eleanor interrupted, "we can't wear strapless dresses anyway." She raised her eyebrows in that secretive kind of way, reminding her sister of something that Dave could easily guess at. They were preadolescents after all.

"Why don't we try the next store Brittany?" Jeanette said in a tone that she thought was quiet and demanding enough to get the point across to her sister.

"Why?" Brittany said bluntly, putting the dress back and grabbing ahold of a glittery pink one with straps around the shoulders, a cinch at the waist, and a cute flare out for the bottom. Jeanette sighed and grabbed the price tag, holding it out for her sister.

"Because there's nothing here suitable for tonight." Brittany's eyes almost bugged out as she read it. A hundred dollars for a child's dress? She checked the tag and realized why. It was a designer dress. Although she had assumed designer dresses, even for kids, sold at closer to three hundred or something. Either way it didn't matter. Even Brittany knew that that was way too much to ask of Dave.

"You're right. Anyway, the next store had those _adorable_ necklaces we liked."

"Stop bringing that up!" Brittany giggled, dragging her sisters as she hurried out of the store.

…X…

"This is more like it!" Alvin cheered as he leaped out of the dressing room in a full rock-out outfit.

"Alvin!" both of his brothers yelled at him, causing him to almost fall over backwards. That got Miss Miller running, and she let out a little yelp of her own when she saw him.

"You are _not_ going in _that_," she said in a tone that made him want to completely melt through the floor. She had more than perfected 'no.' No surprise, seeing as she probably had to say 'no' to Brittany more than any other person in the world ever had.

"It was just a joke," he said meekly. "I wanted to see your reactions…"

"Dave would have done the same thing," Simon hissed. He and Theodore were sporting comfortable white suits, each with trim in their own color. Alvin had to admit that they did look incredibly snazzy. He had his own hanging in the dressing room, although his hadn't looked anywhere near as good on him. He was _not_ going to wear that to this concert.

"Alvin, hurry up and get your real outfit so we can get going. We're going to be late as it is."

"Late?" Alvin yelped, running back in and ripping off the outfit as fast as he could. It took him all of five minutes to finish getting dressed and snapped the suit up and threw it at Miss Miller. "Just let me find the perfect hat."

"What's wrong with the top hats?" Theodore asked innocently.

"Me? In one of those?" Alvin instantly ran over to the rack that had caps galore, picking one that was just slightly lighter than his usual cap. It would also be in perfect condition, where as his usual one wasn't exactly something he wanted to wear on stage with Miss Miller in charge of them. He wasn't sure why he felt like it was inappropriate to wear his usual hat now. There wasn't anything odd with Dave…But a lot of things felt different now.

"You always have to stand out, don't you?" Simon scolded. He glanced out the window and his eyes almost bugged out as he saw the girls walking down the street in front of Dave. His brothers didn't notice, and maybe it was better if they didn't. This wasn't the best time to break the rules by running across the street in mid-day traffic just to see their dad. He quickly adverted his eyes, but not before seeing Brittany drag Jeanette into a store. His heart sunk because it was a complete chick store. If that was where the necklace that Jeanette liked was…He'd just have to take Alvin. Alvin always went into chick stores to get gifts for Brittany.

"What's with you?" Alvin mumbled as he sucked on a sucker. Simon jumped, but quickly regained his usual demeanor.

"Why do you have a sucker?"

"Miss Miller got some for us. Here's yours." Simon looked at it like Alvin was holding out a dead rat. Purple. Grape. He hated grape suckers.

"Here," Theodore said sweetly, giving him the apple flavored one and taking the grape one that Alvin was offering. "I love grape!" Theodore glanced out the window, squinting as he saw two blond pig-tails, and he accidentally blurted out the exact thing that Simon had been avoiding all day. "I can't wait to see the girls tonight." Simon watched as Alvin's eyes lit up in new anger just at the thought of seeing Brittany after their concert.


	10. Backstage Passes

*The author of this story (IE: Me) can be seen running around and jumping up and down with joy. Why? Well...*

Chapter 12 is gonna have a special 'lil surprise for you all! I finally finished it and scanned it to my computer...I'll be it it's not the best, but I'm sure you guys will like it all the same! But I ain't uploading it ANYWHERE until we get to chapter 12 (and we don't get to chapter 12 until I have at least seven reviews per chapter....so you know what to do!).

Also I may soon have the cover page (meaning what would be the cover of this if it were a book, most likely) uploaded as well. It's real cute, but since my colored pencils have conveniently gone missing...I can't finish it so we'll just have to settle for how it looks. I still have to add the title to it, but that'll take all of five minutes...If my computer decides to be compatable with photoshop anytime soon.

AND! Oh my goodness this is certainly a day for presents, isn't it? Are we SURE it's not Christmas yet? (Ah, but we're sure, sad to say.) I'll soon have another teaser up for my TLTT sequal. Now if only I'd get to writing that blasted thing...If you guys can handle not having an update here for a week, I can work on it over Thanksgiving break. But I won't do that unless you guys can really absolutly without a doubt handle it. (And here's something else to note: I don't post big things like that until it's completely done AND I've gone back through and re-read everything...where as this one I'm writing chapter 14 right now and I'm not really going back and re-reading and double checking this...which is why I'm amazed it's doing so well for truly being a rough draft).

And I just had a huge Deja Vu moment...(And my cat just purred louder because I said that out loud...). Have I told you all that information before? I'm sorry if I have and I'm just repeating myself and babbling like an idiot now...So I'll shut up (now that my cat is crawling on me...I don't think he approves of the fact that I'm typing instead of petting him).

**AND DON'T FORGET: Sign my petition to let Ross and Janice know that we want to see more of the cartoon Chipmunks (and not just the old episodes either...the Chipmunk Adventure needs to be shown on TV as well as the fact that they need to make _more)_.**

* * *

_Switched_

**Chapter 10: Backstage Passes**

"Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh.

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh…"

The boys had performed a spot-on performance up to this point, much to Simon and Theodore's relief and were now closing with their rendition of 'Uptown Girl.' They could only hope Alvin stayed as perfect as he had been for this closing number.

"Uptown girl…

She's been living in her uptown world.

I'll bet she never had a back street guy (ahh, ahh-ahh).

I'll bet her mama never told her why (ahh-ahh, ahh-ahh)."

His brothers (and Dave out in the audience) could hear him going flat. Then again, they also knew how much this song reminded him of Brittany, even if she wasn't exactly an 'uptown girl.'

"I'm gonna try for an uptown girl (uptown girl).

She's been living in her white bread world

As long as anyone with hot blood can,

And now she's looking for a downtown man.

That's what I am.

And when she knows what she wants from her time…

And when she wakes up and makes up her mind…

She'll see I'm not so tough

Just because I'm in love

With an uptown girl.

You know I've seen her in her uptown world.

She's getting tired of her high class toys

And all her presents from her uptown boys.

She's got a choice."

Simon and Theodore latched onto Alvin in order to try to cover up him tripping over his own feet. They were really out of sync tonight, each of them making several mistakes (non-voice-related) on stage. It was due to lack of practice, not planning it out ahead of time. Even for songs they already knew, there was still a need for at least one run-through, even if they just sang the beginnings of the songs.

"Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh,

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh.

Uptown girl.

You know I can't afford to buy her pearls,

But maybe someday when my ship comes in

She'll understand what kind of guy I've been.

And then I'll win.

And when she's walking she's looking so fine.

And when she's talking she'll say that she's mine.

She'll say I'm not so tough

Just because I'm in love

With an uptown girl.

She's been living in her white bread world

As long as anyone with hot blood can,

And now she's looking for a downtown man.

That's what I am."

Over the next set of 'oh-oh-oh-oh's,' the boys moved up on stage as carefully yet professionally as they could. The girls didn't even notice it, they were too wrapped up in the boys voices. The Chipmunks had a talent for getting any girl to lose herself in their songs, even if that girl was as mad at them as Brittany was at Alvin.

"Uptown girl

She's my up town gir-ir-irl.

Don't you know I'm in love with an uptown girl?

My uptown girl,

Don't you know I belong with an uptown girl?

My uptown girl,

Don't you know I'm in love with an uptown girl?

My uptown girl,

Don't you know I'm in love with an uptown girl?"

…X…

"You were simply fabulous!" a TV star complimented as she kissed each of the boys' cheeks. They were already all three weak at the knees because of all the gorgeous stars that had come up and hugged them or kissed their cheeks…or the men that had shaken their hands. They had had no idea that Dave had contacts with this many of Hollywood's elite!

"Enough, enough," the stage manager declared. While he too was impressed by all the upper-class that had shown up, he had a job to do. And his job said that no one without a pass was allowed backstage, no matter how much money they had. So he had the awful job of shooing all those famous people out.

"Boys!" Eleanor called as she and Jeanette ran up hand-in-hand. She quickly latched onto Theodore, who was blushing because of how pretty she looked.

"You c-certainly dressed up tonight," he gulped. Her mint green dress was perfect for her body, and she had cute little white bows in her hair.

"Actually, this isn't the dressiest it gets," Jeanette said with a giggle. Simon was speechless as he stared at her dress. She had a jacket on because she'd gotten cold, but the dress was still dazzling. Her hair was done differently too…It was up in a clip rather than with its normal bow. He had had no idea that her hair was long enough to flow over the clip without sticking out. It looked just like her bun, but it wasn't.

"Where's Brittany?" Miss Miller asked as she waited for her hugs from the girls.

"She's…coming," Eleanor tried. Alvin had already dissappeared into his dressing room anyway.

"Are they ever going to make up?" Jeanette sighed. "It wasn't even that bad."

"I'm not going!" Brittany whined, and they all turned their heads to see Dave dragging her by her hand.

"Brittany! You're causing a scene!" Eleanor scolded. Her sister, the queen of the perfect image, was whining like a baby as Dave dragged her towards the group. Her dress was by far the best, her hair done up so fancy that no one would have guessed she'd put it up herself, and everything was in perfect place. But the whole sight was ruined because of her temper tantrum.

"Brittany!" Miss Miller snapped, and instantly the eldest Chipette stopped and merely looked at her fancy little shoes. Dave let go of her hand as his two boys ran over for a quick hug.

"Where's Alvin?" he asked.

"In his dressing room," Simon sighed as he pointed. Dave started to move towards it, but Miss Miller blocked him.

"Remember the rules David," she said, turning around and knocking on it herself. While she tried to get Alvin to emerge, Dave slipped a piece of notebook paper to Simon. Simon quickly hid it in his pocket before anyone noticed and went over to stand beside Theodore. "Oh, just come out and accept your praise for such a nice show!" Two frustrated eyes answered her, and soon he walked quietly out. He'd already changed his clothes. Miss Miller gave him a gentle push towards Brittany, who was still fixated on her shoes.

Everyone watched as his eyes showed his surprise and interest in how she looked. No matter how much she'd deny it, she had dressed that way because she wanted to impress Alvin. As Brittany looked shyly up, Alvin's eyes regained their anger and he looked away. "Go on," Dave whispered to Brittany so that Alvin couldn't hear him.

"You look great tonight," she said, almost inaudibly.

"So do you," he replied just as quietly. Everyone started backing away slowly, as if Theodore and Eleanor had just made a soufflé and they were all now leaving to let it set so that it would be perfect once it cooled.

"This outfit would look better with…"

"Don't start with me!" Everyone let out their breaths with quiet groans. So much for the two of them making up.

"I'm not. I'm just saying it'd look better with a necklace."

"You have plenty."

"None that look just right with this dress."

"Then why don't you make do with one that looks nice?"

"Because 'nice' isn't good enough." Alvin rolled his eyes and turned to walk away. "You're so spoiled!"

"You're calling me spoiled?" he snapped as he spun back at her. Simon and Theodore walked to their rooms to change as Miss Miller and Dave both just rubbed their foreheads in misery.

"You've had a perfect life all your life and you can't spare a little bit of that perfection for me? Yeah! You're spoiled!" She spun around and ran off, and Alvin let off a loud growl as he ran back into his room. Dave started to go after Alvin instinctively, but this time one of the 'Switched' cameramen stepped in his way.

"Move!" Dave demanded.

"I'm sorry, but the rules say you can't do that." It was obvious that the cameraman didn't want to do what he was doing, but for the sake of his job he had to. "Why don't you go comfort Brittany? She's your kid until next Saturday morning." Letting out his own growl of frustration, Dave turned around and chased after Brittany while Jeanette and Eleanor merely leaned against the wall outside of the dressing rooms. Miss Miller tentatively knocked on Alvin's door, hoping he'd open without her having to announce herself. But five minutes passed and there wasn't any sign that he was going to.

"Alvin? Brittany ran off and because of the rules David had to go after her instead of talking to you…So I hope I'll do." She heard light footsteps on the floor and she watched as the doorknob on her side jiggled as he opened the door.

"What is it?" he mumbled.

"May I come in?"

"Sure." He stepped out of the way and she walked in, shutting the door behind her. Alvin went over and pulled the footrest away from his arm chair so Miss Miller could sit. "Miss Miller, Brittany is way out of line! She…"

"I know she can be quite a handful Alvin." Miss Miller gratefully took the seat and motioned for Alvin to sit on the footrest. "She's a little disillusioned right now. You boys did just put on a concert for all the elite of American TV. The biggest stars, producers, directors, and who knows what all were out there. I bet she thinks that you boys have more money now than ever…And you have to understand that she came from scraping together a living on the streets of New York to scraping up a living in a tree house here while going to school and handling a job at that hotel."

"You make it sound like we're spoiled."

"Compared to that story, anyone sounds spoiled. Alvin, I get her nice things sometimes just like I'm always getting Jeanette new books or buying all sorts of ingredients at the store for Eleanor to make whatever it is she wants to make. And I'm sure Brittany appreciates that, but now she is tasting that elite life that all those stars have and she wants it more than anything. It's so sad that she thinks the only way to live that life is through what she wears, but she's very insecure. Please, forgive for that at least."

"I don't hold anything against her! I just want her to stop acting like such a brat! She's sucking up all my money! I used to use that money on what I wanted!" Miss Miller sucked in a deep breath. No wonder Brittany thought he was spoiled…He'd probably waved that money around every time they went somewhere and he saw something he liked…And she took advantage of it. Sure, she was a brat…But she sure knew how to live. Latch onto a rich guy and be set for life…

"She probably thinks you and your brothers get everything you want and still have cash just flowing out of your ears on top of that."

"We do not!"

"But it certainly looks like you do. David does say no when need be, and I try to give the girls as much as you boys have had, but there is an obvious difference."

"Obvious difference? Miss Miller! Do you know how many times we've had trouble paying the bills? Do you know how close we've come to losing the house before?" He leaped up and Miss Miller was taken completely aback at how much he knew about his family's financial situation. "We don't get to do whatever we want whenever we want…"

"Of course not! What parent in their right mind would consent to that?"

"Obviously Brittany thinks we do!" Miss Miller caught him as he stomped around in circles in his anger.

"Alvin, just you give her time. You were right to say no, but this is going just a little too far. She owes you an apology just as much as you owe her one. Well, more, I think, but don't ever tell her I said that." Alvin smiled a little at that. At least it was clear that Brittany owed him the bigger apology.

…X…

Dave finally found Brittany after a good ten minutes of hunting. She's run back out to the seats and was sitting in the middle, her knees pulled up and her forehead resting on her knees. "Brittany," he said as gently as he could manage.

"Simon and Theodore are always giving stuff to Jeanette and Ellie just for no reason at all…All they have to do is talk about something they like and they'll get it. I have to beg, and no one listens because they all call me a diva! Just because I like fashions and jewelry more than books and food."

"Well, they call you a diva because you beg so much, and for the most expensive things."

"Nuh-uh! That necklace I wanted was only twenty bucks! The same price as a good hardback book for Jeanette." She glanced up, hurt obvious in her eyes. "Alvin is always so greedy." Dave cringed inwardly at that comment. Alvin sure loved to get what he wanted, but he wouldn't go so far to say that Alvin was always greedy. Alvin could be very giving when he wanted to be.

"Well, I'm sure he wants to spend his money on something other than you once in a while. Brittany, Simon normally gives Jeanette books that he bought, read, and didn't feel like reading again but knew that Jeanette would like it. And Theodore would make cookies for anyone that smiled at him. Alvin is just a typical kid, more interested in spending time with his friends rather than spending money to get them gifts to keep them smiling all the time. I'm sure if you're a little nicer you'll see that side. Just hang out with him…This is the twenty-first century, so why don't you buy him some ice cream sometime?" Brittany growled inwardly. Dave would stick up for Alvin. But she couldn't bring herself to be angry with Dave for that…Perhaps it was because she knew that Dave was just telling the truth.

"Image is everything in this world. If I don't stay on top of things…"

"You'll still be an up and coming rock star, member of the Chipettes, friends with the Chipmunks…You'll still have the same opportunities you'd have even if you didn't get every little necklace that you want. Brittany…you didn't see Alvin's jaw drop tonight when he saw you."

"His…jaw dropped?" Now she was trying her best to cover up a blush.

"Oh yeah. He didn't say it, but he must have thought you looked gorgeous tonight."

"I'd have looked better with the right necklace."

"I don't think so. I mean, yeah, it'd look nice, but who really notices the little things? Did you notice that he was wearing a new hat today?"

"New…That was new?" She stared at Dave in surprise. "Wait…If no one notices the little things, how come you noticed?"

"It was lighter than his normal one and it didn't look like it'd been walked all over at tons of sporting events over the last three years. It's the sort of thing a parent would notice." Brittany giggled.

"I guess…I guess I owe you an apology."

"Me?"

"Well…I did call your son greedy and spoiled."

"Oh, he does tend to be greedy and I do spoil the boys. But…You were out of line." Brittany tried to be angry at that…But she just couldn't be. She wouldn't have been mad if Miss Miller had told her she was a rotten little rodent right then, actually, because she was beginning to see just how rotten she had been lately.


	11. Running Errands

Goo...This is hurting me. But I have to say it...

...

...

This story MAY go on Haitus until Christmas Break.

*hides in a cardboard box hoping everyone won't hunt me down while I explain*

See, everything was wonderful last week...then...it flipped upside down. First there's the poor performance on the PSAT...(I shaln't say, but to me it's equivilant to failing an unfailable test...perhaps to you it's good, but to me the score is atrocious and disgusting.) Plus two big projects due soon, so that's going to take up all my time so I won't be writing...at least not for fun. And...here's the big evil: I have three C's. Now, I know to some people C's are miracles, but not to me. Oh no not to me...My entire future rides on weather or not I get scholorships or not, and right now...it's lookling more towards the not. So...If I wasn't trying before (which I was, and that makes it completely ironic because when I didn't try I got straight A's with one B here and there...now that I'm actually trying I'm starting to fail!), I am certainly dedicating all my time to my school work now.

I mean, I'll still try to get my Christmas video up...I'll work on that Saturday and Sunday mornings because I swore that I'd get at leat one video up for every holiday over the next year (which started back with the fourth of July), so that I'll do to keep the depression bug at bay...But writing...Oh my writing...Once I start typing, I can't finish until something drags me away (usually my mother). I know if I pull up this or ANY story, I'll write the night away. Well, type...I actually prefer typing stories. Since I'm lefthanded, it means no graphite on my hand. But I digress...

Like I said, the big word is MAY. That's only if things stay as nuts as they are...After this, the rest of the week is going to be dedicated to finishing my gov. project (which, if I get the full 130 points on that should at least drag my C up to a good, solid B) and my geometry work. But I really have to get back on track with my French...I keep up and do my homework, but no matter how much I understand it my mind blanks on the tests.

And it doesn't help that musical is just around the corner...and I have a dedication to people that'll actually hurt me if I don't help because they see me every day (you guys can't actually hurt me...and it does hurt me to say I may not update, but...better to be alive and not updating than dead and unable to ever update again, right?).

I love all the reviews you guys have given me so far (heck, I'd even go so far as to say I love YOU, my fans, but...then it'd just get a little awkward, wouldn't it?), so please...don't be mad or frustrated. I'll try, I promise. But a 'try' is all I CAN promise.

**AND DON'T FORGET: Sign my petition to let Ross and Janice know that we want to see more of the cartoon Chipmunks (and not just the old episodes either...the Chipmunk Adventure needs to be shown on TV as well as the fact that they need to make _more)_.**

* * *

_Switched_

**Chapter 11 – Running 'Errands'**

"Al-vin!" Miss Miller called in a tone so sweet it scared him. He was once again mopping the kitchen floor, even though he wanted to drop dead. His feet were killing him, his eyes were barely staying open, and his back ached. That's what he got for staying up until after midnight (they'd gotten home just before midnight).

"Yes Miss Miller?" he replied, his voice portraying his fatigue.

"We're out of bread."

"And you want me to…?" She was pulling a ten dollar bill out of her purse as he spoke.

"Would you be a dear and run out and get me a loaf of wheat bread?" He blinked, reaching out and grabbing hold tentatively.

"Can I go with him?" he heard Simon yelp from the doorway.

"What?" Alvin hissed. "Think I'll steal it?"

"No! I just want to…to hang out with my older brother for a little while." He put on the best fake smile he could manage.

"I know what you want," Miss Miller said, shaking her head. "Here's some extra money, go ahead and take Theodore and get some ice cream, alright?" They stared at her for a moment, not believing that she was handing them another ten dollar bill.

"Why don't you give us a five for the bread and we'll get ice cream with the ten?"

"I didn't give you a five?" She stared disbelievingly at the bill in Alvin's hands. With a shake of her head, she put away her ten and pulled out a five, handing that to Simon. "Now go on, but don't you boys take to long. You have to finish your chores."

"Yes Miss Miller." Simon grabbed Alvin and hurried his brother upstairs.

"Simon?" Alvin hissed. "Why are we going to the bedroom?"

"To get our money."

"Why are we getting our money?"

"Because…Because there's something I have to buy!" Alvin burst out laughing.

"You're really going to get Jeanette that necklace, aren't you?" Simon didn't answer, merely ran over to his suitcase and pulled out his secret stash of money.

"And you're going to get something for Brittany." Alvin sucked in a deep breath to keep himself from hitting Simon for such a stupid idea.

"Just why am I going to do that?"

"So she'll cheer up so Jeanette will be in a good mood rather than being bogged down with a moody Brittany all the time!" Alvin blinked. His brother really wanted to impress Jeanette. It was almost scary. "Well, what are you just standing there for?"

"I really don't want to buy anything for Brittany. She doesn't deserve it."

"But you deserve the peace that will follow. You give her the necklace, she'll be happy…Everyone else will be happy again."

"Except me. Because she'll come back for more…Again!" Simon sighed and looked at his brother.

"I know it doesn't make much sense to keep appeasing her, but right now that's the best thing to do. You've already voiced your discontent, so when you give it to her tell her that it's the last thing like that that you'll get her because she asked for it. Make sure she understands that when you get her something, it's a gift you're giving her as something special. Not because she wanted it, but because you wanted to give it to her."

"That won't stop her. And besides, if we're going to go with that, I don't want to give it to her."

"Which is probably why she complains so much and calls you spoiled."

"Excuse me?"

"You never give her anything."

"Should I have to?"

"Well…no, I guess…But…" Alvin let out a huff as he nodded. Simon couldn't find the right words to explain this one. "It's the nice thing to do, I guess."

"She never gets me anything."

"Please! Alvin, you can't live your life saying 'I didn't help them because they didn't help me.' That'll get you no where."

"I never said I wouldn't help someone. I just said I won't get a spoiled brat something because she'll be ungrateful." Simon sighed.

"At the very least, you're coming with me. I…I've never gone to a store like that alone."

"It's just a store choc full of dresses and jewelry."

"An all-girls store, you mean." Alvin laughed, looking at his brother. He could almost see Simon blushing.

"You're too innocent. Even Theodore wouldn't have trouble with that. If Ellie wanted something, he'd go in there with her…"

"Exactly. With her. How many boys go into chick-stores alone?"

"I do. All the time. For Brittany…" Alvin was back to the angry seething.

"That's why you're coming with me."

…X…

"Ellie…Jeanette…" Brittany pleaded through the locked door. Her sisters hadn't been talking to her since the night before. Things had gone from bad to worse after they'd left the concert. She'd gotten into a real, true fight with her sisters. It had started as mere bickering, but soon Eleanor had wacked her over the head with a pillow. It was one of those shut-up things. Probably because she'd brought Theodore and Simon into the conversation, lumping them together with Alvin.

She really had wanted to apologize to Alvin by the end of Dave's talk. But once she'd seen him outside his dressing room, she just couldn't. She'd ended up turning her nose up and walking straight past him.

But Alvin really didn't matter right then. Her sisters had locked her out of the bedroom right after breakfast. She'd been munching on her pancakes and they'd finished early. Together, they'd gone upstairs and shut and locked the door. And now they weren't listening to her pleadings.

'Maybe you should get him some ice cream…'

Dave's words echoed in her memory and she knew she really should make amends with him. She just…couldn't. She'd almost never apologized, ever. It was too hard. But if she got him ice cream, at least, she wouldn't have to say she was sorry. She could just give him the ice cream and run off or something. Letting out a sigh, she jumped up and ran down the stairs.

Dave was at the kitchen table, obviously frustrated with whatever he was doing. She was almost afraid to go in as she watched him filling out what looked like checks. She slipped in as quietly as she could, but Dave was used to sneaking children. He heard her as soon as her feet touched the kitchen floor and instantly shut up the check book and flipped over the papers in front of him.

"They're still not talking to you, are they?" he asked gently. "I can go talk to them if you want."

"No, that's alright. I was actually hoping…that maybe you'd let me go out. I have to get something."

"You can't go home."

"I'm not going home…I'm going to the ice cream parlor." She flashed him a shy smile and he smiled his understanding smile.

"Alright. But shouldn't you find out where Alvin is first?"

"He's probably back at the house. I'll just walk by there and shout for him…"

"That won't attract any attention at all…"

"Well, what would you suggest?"

"Call him. Have him come meet you at the parlor. It's safe because you won't break any rules, plus you can have some time just to talk to him without Simon or Theodore or Miss Miller around." Brittany's eyes lit up as she ran over and reached up for the phone. It was much to far out of her reach, so Dave went over and handed it down to her, dialing the number while he was at it.

"Hello?...Is Alvin there?...Where'd he go?...I normally do that, don't I? Well, that makes sense I guess…Thanks Miss Miller….No, that's alright. I'll catch up with him. I was just about to head out and I wanted to know if he could spend the afternoon with me…Yes Miss Miller, I know its Sunday. But this is sort of special." She giggled at whatever Miss Miller said next. "Something like that. Bye."

"That sounded like it went well."

"Yep." Brittany held it up to him. "So I can go?"

"Of course." She grinned as she ran through the front door. He waited, watching as she came back and grabbed her jacket. It was down in the fifties today after all.

…X…

"This is it!" Simon said excitedly as he pointed at a pendant on a sliver chain behind the glass on the counter. Alvin glanced from the creased paper in Simon's hand to the pendant in the case. It was the exact one…but the description from the on-line store said it was less than thirty bucks. The necklace in the case was almost forty dollars.

"You sure you want to spend that much on a necklace?" Alvin hissed. Theodore seemed to be in shock, his eyes wide as he stared at the price tag.

"It's for Jeanette." Simon rang the bell on the counter, glancing around as he wondered where the workers were. "Which reminds me, shouldn't you be picking something out for Brittany?" Alvin sucked in a deep breath.

"I am not getting Brittany anything."

"You keep saying that, but you brought your money."

"We'll get ice cream or something."

"I'm going to run this over to Jeanette…"

"No you're not!"

"Why not?"

"The rules. Do you want to get kicked of the show?"

"You know…that might not actually be so bad."

"What?" Alvin stared unbelievingly at his brother.

"Have you checked the polls lately? Eighty percent of the voters voted no! Eighty percent of people out there don't want us to have Thanksgiving with Dave!" Alvin nearly choked on his own breath.

"Eighty…Eighty percent?" Theodore whimpered. "Maybe it would be best if we got kicked off…"

"We'll do no such thing!" Alvin said. "We signed up for this, we're not bailing out." Still, his eyes focused on his reflection in the glass. He continued to stare at it as the cashier finally showed up and Simon purchased the necklace.

"Alvin…Alvin! Come on!"

"I…I think I'll catch up later." Suddenly, a thought struck him as Simon opened the door. "Oh! Wouldn't it be easier if you just called Jeanette and had her meet you somewhere? You know they don't have anything to do, and you sill have to get whatever it is that Miss Miller sent us out to get."

"Didn't she give us ice cream money too?" Theodore asked sweetly.

"There you go. Take Jeanette and Ellie to get ice cream."

"What about you?"

"I'm not in the mood for ice cream anyway." He smiled and waved his brothers out the door, turning back and walking past the glass case. There was a gorgeous diamond pendant, swirled within an equally gorgeous silver design. It would cost everything he had to get it…But it wouldn't hurt to have something in his back-up arsenal for when he was ready to forgive Brittany. Or for Christmas. Whichever came first.

…X…

"Two vanilla shakes please," Brittany said.

"Why not cones?"

"They'd melt before I got to the person I'm taking them to."

"Ah. Now why are you getting ice cream when it's in the fifties outside?"

"Because ice cream is the perfect way to apologize to someone." The cashier smiled, taking her money and turning around to spout out the order. Brittany shifted her weight from foot to foot restlessly. She wanted to hurry up and get to him before he left.

"Here you go."

"Thanks." She spun around, hurrying for the door. As she looked up from the shakes in her hand, she saw something that made her heart sink. Her sisters were heading into the parlor alongside Simon and Eleanor. Quickly she ran for the girls bathroom, leaping in and shutting the door as fast as she could.

"Excuse me miss," a mother said. She was holding the hand of a wet three-year-old. No doubt she'd just scrubbed the child clean of whatever treat the child had spilled.

"Sorry." Brittany ducked out of her way, peeking through the door after she had left. Her sisters had already passed the hallway by the looks of it, so she crept up to the corner and peeked around tentatively. They were turned away from her, choosing their treats. She took the chance to dart out the door, praying that neither of them would turn around.

Much in her favor, they didn't. But Theodore did. He saw Brittany's pony-tail bobbing up and down as she ran across the parking lot and on down the street. He turned back to say something to Simon, but his brother was ordering. So he just shrugged it off and let it be. The girls were mad at Brittany anyway.


	12. A Meeting in the Park

Well, I am pleased to announce that all my grades are finally rocketing up. *Phew.* Other than that....

This story may prove to be about eighteen chapters long and something close to 100 pages. Yes...that IS a short story to me. And: This chapter may be short, but this IS that Alvin/Brittany fluff you've all been begging me for. I hope it satisfies you enough, because it doesn't get much deeper than this (remember...they are ten after all).

And...this isn't going to come up for a while yet, but what song do you guys think is the perfect duet for Theodore and Eleanor?

Ahem: And don't forget to check my DA page for that special surprise I promised you.

**AND DON'T FORGET: Sign my petition to let Ross and Janice know that we want to see more of the cartoon Chipmunks (and not just the old episodes either...the Chipmunk Adventure needs to be shown on TV as well as the fact that they need to make _more)_.**

* * *

_Switched_

**Chapter 12 – A Meeting in the Park**

Brittany sighed with frustration as she walked away from the store. Alvin was no where in sight. She trudged along down the street, melting shakes in her warm hands. The necklace that Jeanette had liked was also conveniently missing from the display, along with a gorgeous necklace that she had been admiring but knew it was way too far out of Alvin's price range. Probably bought up by some diva of a child.

There wasn't any wind, which was making her sweat underneath her jacket. She hurried to the nearest park to set the drinks down and take it off. Flustered, she merely dumped it on the ground as she sat, glancing around. She wasn't sure what made her think they'd have gone there in the first place. Miss Miller had just said they were running an errand. Going to get bread and maybe some ice cream. So why hadn't Alvin been with his brothers? And why were Jeanette and Ellie with the two?

She glanced up at the grey clouds, only to turn her head away as the sun suddenly peeked out right where she was looking. Her attention instantly turned to the birds that were chirping happily away in the tree next to her bench. The sun made them happy. All they needed was a warm day in late November and they could be happy.

Brittany could hear twigs cracking behind her, but she didn't bother to look. Probably just the camera guy sneaking up on her to catch the dramatic moment on film for the rest of the nation to see. Suddenly, she wasn't quite so fond of being part of a reality TV show.

"You know…Those shakes will melt if you don't drink them soon." She almost jumped right out of her skin as she spun around and slipped off the bench. "Although I can't see why someone who's so obsessed with their image would want two shakes all for themselves…"

"They weren't both for me!" Brittany declared as she leaped back onto her feet. "I got one of them for you!" Alvin stared at her, unable to do more than blink. Once he got past the shock, he pretended to clean out his ear with his pinkie.

"Did I just hear you right?"

"Yes! You heard me right! I got you a vanilla milkshake. So…so why don't you come over here and drink it?" She picked up her jacket nervously, sitting back down on the bench.

"No yelling."

"What?"

"Promise me you won't yell anymore."

"Anymore today or anymore forever?"

"Anymore forever is impossible for you. Just anymore today."

"That I can handle." She picked up her drink, not looking towards him as he sat down. But she did hear the crinkling of paper. She sipped some of her half-melted milkshake, trying hard to overcome her curiosity and not look at what he had, but she just couldn't. As her blue eyes glanced over, she saw that he had a small bag from the exact same store that she had just come from. So he had been there…

"What are you doing here by yourself?"

"I wasn't going to stay home when Jeanette and Ellie went to the ice cream parlor with your brothers!"

"So you went with them?"

"No."

"But you went to the ice cream parlor?"

"Before they did. They just followed me I guess."

"Nah. I told Simon to take the extra money and get some ice cream with Jeanette. I wasn't in the mood for it."

"Could have fooled me." He stopped sucking up his own milkshake as he noticed the look in her eyes.

"Milkshakes aren't the same as ice cream." She turned away, trying desperately to think of something to say.

"Brittany…can you do me a favor?"

"What?" She glanced over at him, seeing that he'd crossed his legs on the bench and was now examining some of the dead leaves on the ground.

"For Thanksgiving…Please try to keep Dave happy, no matter what happens."

"What do you mean by that?"

"The polls…I almost forgot about them, but Simon didn't. Last he looked…Eighty percent had said no."

"What? That's so unfair!" She jumped up, letting out a little yelp as her shake flew out of her hand. "How could they do that to us? Don't they understand what family means?"

"It's probably all the kids that are jealous because we have this opportunity and they probably wouldn't have." She opened her mouth to start complaining, but then she realized how calm he was about it. Alvin…was not only being serious, he also seemed to be deep in thought. The world had to be ending…it just had to be!

"So, what are we going to do about it?"

"I don't know."

"You…don't know? You have an answer for everything! I mean, it's not always the smartest answer, but you always have an answer!"

"Well I don't have one now!" His eyes turned up and seemed to stab right into hers. "We signed their rules and we have to live with it! Even if it's just Thanksgiving…It's a big deal!"

"I know Alvin! The only real Thanksgiving we've ever had is with Miss Miller! Sure, my sisters will still be with me and Dave is almost like a step-father or something…"

"Please don't say that."

"Say what?"

"That Dave is like your step-father." He had his hand over his face now, embarrassed completely. So she instantly dropped her voice to a whisper.

"Where's the camera man?" He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb.

"Over there by the water fountain. And that's just the one I saw."

"They can't hear us from all the way over there…"

"But a big moment like this…they wouldn't miss it for the world! They have their ways you know. They do it on other TV shows all the time." She gulped, turning around and sitting down.

"What'll we do?"

"Well…we could tell each other how sorry we are for the miserable way we've been treating each other this past week. I mean, you did get me a milk shake for some reason, right?" Brittany couldn't speak…but the blush on her cheeks said it all. "Here."

"Huh?" She looked up just in time to catch the bag. "For me?"

"Who else do I waste all my money on?"

"Waste!"

"Well…maybe not always completely waste." She glared at him for a moment, but the gift was jus too powerful. She reached in with both hands and pulled out a fine black necklace case. Inside was the most dazzling pendant she'd ever held, diamond and silver that would go perfectly with almost any outfit.

"Alvin…this had to cost…"

"Eighty bucks. It was on sale."

"On sale? Alvin! Where'd you get that kind of money?"

"I haven't really had much that I wanted to buy lately. Usually I'm buying stuff for you anyway, so I'm just not used to spending my money on myself anymore. Which, by the way, that has to stop. Gifts are ok, but I need my money for stuff I like…I don't even know what I like anymore!"

"Sure you do! You like video games, skateboarding and biking, getting on my nerves, plotting adventures, having adventures…You love sports and music."

"Most music."

"Most?"

"I hate rap. It's annoying." Brittany giggled.

"You hate rap…who'd have thought it? You're just like the kind of kids that love rap."

"Just because I'm like them doesn't mean I am them. Rap was ok for a while, I guess, but then it just got…well, boring. They all talk about the same stuff and half the time you can't even understand them. Besides…Dave won't let us listen to most rap because of how it's not child appropriate at all."

"Since when do you do what Dave tells you to?"

"I do what he tells me to all the time! I do my chores, I wash my hands, I brush my teeth…"

"Alvin, I don't need to know every detail of your life. I'm pretty happy just knowing the basics. And there's a lot of stuff I've learned about you lately that I'd be much happier not knowing."

"Like what?"

"Oh…stuff."

"Like what?" Now he seemed anxious.

"Well…let's just say you forgot to tell Dave not to tell us your life stories…"

"What?"

"Just kidding."


	13. How a Sister Apologizes

Ok, I'm a day late. Don't hate me, please. It IS the holiday season after all. Tomorrow is Chirstmas! (Which is why most of you probably won't be reading this until next week, or something like that.)

So if any of you will recall a few chapters earlier, there were still a few loose ends in the anger department. That's all tied together here. And, if you couldn't already tell, after this chapter we'll be in the home stretch. Are you wondering just how many pages (from Word 2007) you've read so far? Well, that's a secret. But you are already in the sixties my dears. (Which is one fourth of the length of The Lessons They Teach, for anyone that cares to know that). Just a little interesting tidbit for you all.

And, if you haven't already: Go to my DA page (the link is on my profile) and check out the SURPRISE from last chapter. (It shouldn't be too hard to figure it out...one, if you've read that chapter (which you should have, unless your a weirdo that skips chapters and therefore misses BIG events in my stories because even little things have important parts in my stories) you'll figure it out just by looking, and two, it's called Surprise...both for you and the kids in the picture.)

AND: (Yes, another and.) I still need a Theo/Ellie duet. I simply cannot post the next chapter until I find a good one! (I know, the duet is going to be in chapter 15/16, but I'd like to actually write those chapters before posting the next one.)

**AND DON'T FORGET: Sign my petition to let Ross and Janice know that we want to see more of the cartoon Chipmunks (and not just the old episodes either...the Chipmunk Adventure needs to be shown on TV as well as the fact that they need to make _more)_.**

* * *

_Switched_

**Chapter 13 – How a Sister Apologizes**

Jeanette held the necklace out, still staring in disbelief. It was so beautiful, and now she was holding it in her own two hands. Usually she didn't really care that much towards trivial things like jewelry, but she was a girl after all. Some things really did make her jaw drop with instant adoration. And now she was holding it. Simon was such an angel!

First buying her and Ellie ice cream, then pulling out the necklace…It made her blush thinking about it. She'd been so happy that she hadn't been able to talk all the way back to the Seville residence. Simon had almost thought she was upset, but she flashed him a smile with a cute little 'sorry, no Seville Chipmunks allowed here, remember?' as they'd reached the gate and the girls headed up for the house. Simon had been the one that had left speechless, amazed at how happy Jeanette was.

But the real cuteness went on between Ellie and Theo. They'd found that there wasn't enough money each get their own sundae (especially with all the toppings they liked), so they agreed to get one extra-large sundae and split it. While Simon was trying to figure out how exactly to present his present to Jeanette, Eleanor and Theodore were scooping up the ice cream together, Eleanor dabbing off some chocolate that Theodore got on his face. It was certainly adorable.

Now the only matter was Brittany and Alvin. No…Alvin was fine. Brittany was the problem. She shut up the box, putting it carefully in her suitcase. There would be no occasion to wear it over the next week anyway. She had been keeping her own tabs on the polls, so it hadn't been a surprise when Simon had given the girls the bad news. 80 percent wasn't going to change in four days. Three, technically. The fourth day would be Thanksgiving itself.

Both girls jumped a little when they heard a light knocking on their door, but neither of them budged. Was it Dave or was it Brittany? Whoever it was didn't speak, so the girls stayed planted to their beds as the knock sounded again. Finally, Eleanor spoke up. "Who is it?"

"It's me!" they heard their sister on the other side. They quickly glanced at each other, then rolled over on their beds.

"We don't want to talk to you right now." Eleanor's face had scrunched up into a scowl as she found it easy to say no to Brittany, but Jeanette was having a hard time not running over and letting her sister in. There was a pit in her stomach that told her that Brittany had learned her lesson already.

On the other side of the door, Brittany rubbed the jewel hanging around her neck as she thought of what to do. They didn't want to talk to her, but that didn't mean she couldn't talk to them. And what was the best way for a sister to apologize? Sucking in a deep breath, she plunged into a song.

"Hey girl, I just called to tell you hi.

Call me when you get this.

Haven't talked lately, so hard to find the time.

Give the boys a big kiss.

Tell them that I miss them,

And by the way I miss you too.

I was thinking just today

About how we used to play

Barbie dolls and make-up, tea parties, dress up.

I remember how we'd fight

Then make up and laugh all night.

My sisters, my friends."

Jeanette couldn't take it anymore. She jumped off her bed and hurried over to the door, only to feel Eleanor's hand on her arm. As she turned around, she could see her pig-tailed little sister shaking her head. "Let her keep singing," Eleanor said.

"Oh yeah before I forget:

I met someone.

I think I really like him.

I was just wondering if I'm jumping the gun

By going out on a limb."

Jeanette broke from her little sister's grasp as her elder sister sang, throwing open the door and singing two lines to convey that she understood what Brittany meant. Her sister wouldn't have been able to sing that if she hadn't made up with Alvin.

"Invite him home for Christmas

To meet the family."

Then it was Ellie's turn to jump in

"Seems like just yesterday

You brought home oh-what's-his-name.

He had been drinking,

What were you thinking?

After he passed out

We can laugh about it now."

Brittany giggled as she took her sisters' hands, singing the next line.

"I've learned a lot since then."

Jeanette and Eleanor pulled back, catching a little bit of something in her eyes. Weather it was happiness or deceptiveness, they couldn't tell.

"My sisters, my friends."

Brittany watched as they backed away with uncertainty, and her eyes dropped as she meekly continued the song.

" Do you think you come and see me sometime soon ?

We could just hang out like we used to."

As she glanced up, she saw that they weren't even standing in the doorway anymore. It hurt her to see them gone, but she knew they could still hear her. At the very least she could try to continue with her Reba-style apology.

"It's late and I should go,

But I can't hang up the phone

Until I tell you what I don't tell you enough."

She jumped about a foot in the air as she heard her sisters singing from behind her.

" Even though at times it seems we were more like enemies,

I'd do it all again."

Brittany spun around and leaped to hug them.

"My sisters, my friends.

Oh my sisters, my friends."

She let a few tears roll down her face as she let the end of the song hang in the air before speaking. "I thought you guys had decided to ignore me!"

"That's what you get for staring at the ground," Jeanette teased.

"I didn't think I stared at it that long…"

"So did you and Alvin make up?" Eleanor pressed, wanting to get straight to the point.

"Of course we did!" Brittany held up the jewel around her neck as proof, which only got her sister's to groan. "We talked the whole thing over. Everything. I'm going to be more fair from now on."

"Well that certainly good news," Jeanette said, trying to get Eleanor to let up.

"And what about Theodore and Simon?"

"I take back everything I said about them," Brittany said instantly. "I was just so mad that you guys didn't seem to understand why I was upset! It was wrong of me to insult them." Both of her sisters stared in shock.

"Um…can you say that again?" Jeanette said. "I think what's left over from my cold made that sound funny…" Brittany merely smirked and raised her voice.

"I said 'I take everything back and that it was wrong of me to insult them'!" She turned and strutted into the bedroom, spinning around to look over her shoulder. "Aren't you two coming?"

"Brittany, there's something else we have to tell you."

"Oh?"

"About the polls…"

"Alvin told me."

"Why don't you seem worried?" Eleanor shot.

"Because." There was a glint in her eyes that told them that she knew something they didn't.

"Brittany?" they both questioned.

"I know that the polls are bound to turn around quite soon." Eleanor and Jeanette didn't press the matter. They knew just by her tone that this needed great secrecy. But Dave, who was standing just around the corner, couldn't help but wonder what the kids were planning.


	14. Evading the Cameras

Friends....

I STILL need a good duet. I can't post the next chapter unless I get one. Well, actually I probably could...this just shows how behind I am. You guys have caught up with me! I'm still writing the next chapter! (But this two week break has me on the un-wind...I'm just lazing about right now, finally getting rid of all the toxins caused by High School.)

And...I don't do this much, but this is sort of a filler chapter to attempt to build up suspence. It really is almost completely drabble...I dunno. Maybe you guys will like it. My writing seems to be on a down-spiral thanks to this long vacation. (I suppose I need school to keep my mind from going to mush after a while.)

**AND DON'T FORGET: Sign my petition to let Ross and Janice know that we want to see more of the cartoon Chipmunks (and not just the old episodes either...the Chipmunk Adventure needs to be shown on TV as well as the fact that they need to make _more)_.**

* * *

_Switched_

**Chapter 14: Evading the Cameras**

Jeanette nodded, her face scrunched up in thought as Simon whispered in her ear. The cameras couldn't pick up whispers, so that was what they were reduced to. The camera men were utterly confused. First Alvin had locked himself in the bathroom all day Sunday (unbeknownst to them, he was working out an intricate plan he liked to call 'the Turkey Maneuver'), and then he and his brothers had done nothing but whisper to each other. Now the boys were all whispering to the girls. Something was up…but six kids couldn't cause that much trouble, right?

Suddenly Jeanette nodded and ran over to meet with her sisters by a tree on the school's playground. Alvin and Theodore rejoined Simon. More whispering…The cameramen grumbled with frustration. They were supposed to be getting all the juicy moments on film…But it was quite obvious that this wasn't working.

"Alvin, I agree with what you're trying to do, but I'm really having second thought about how you're going about getting it done," Simon hissed.

"And you act as if you've never followed along on one of my schemes before," Alvin laughed back. "You want Thanksgiving with Dave, don't you?"

"Yeah, but…"

"You and Jeanette are the know-it-alls. But you've already said you can't hack the site from Miss Miller's house and Brittany told me that Jeanette couldn't get in from our computer. That means we have to get the two of you to where the site is run."

"Alvin, what if it's someone's house?"

"I doubt that. It's probably right from the station. They have more than just the set there you know."

"Yeah, I know…" Simon sighed, sitting down on the ladder that led up to the monkey bars.

"I think this'll be fun!" Theodore said.

"Fun? We're breaking the rules we signed to and we're going to be breaking the law!"

"I mean getting away from the cameramen. While you guys run off, Ellie and me are gonna keep them busy!"

"Just don't crack under the pressure."

"Huh?"

"He means don't come clean," Alvin replied, glaring at his do-good brother. Simon was in a tough spot. Either path he chose was just as wrong as it was right. He'd never forgive himself for not helping, but he certainly didn't want to break the law!

"When does this 'Turkey Maneuver' start again?"

"After school."

"By the way…I pick the names from now on."

…X…

Eleanor smiled and waved at the camera man that was following after her. She'd conveniently let it slip that she was planning on getting a little present for Theodore, just loud enough for them to catch it on camera. So now one was shadowing her every movement. The problem with her plan was that she had no clue what to get her friend! Sure, he'd love anything, but she wanted to get him something nice. There was just no way she'd be able to do that at Wal-Mart…But that was where they'd decided to meet up. Theodore would get the other camera man into Wally-world while the other four split up and made their way to the station.

Alvin and Brittany were the other distraction, in case there were any hidden camera-people. They had already planned out an entire fake fight, so they too were conveniently going to meet up. Simon had rigged a little beeper (with a beep so quiet no camera could pick it up, but Alvin would know) that he'd single once when he got there, twice when Jeanette got there. Or three times if Jeanette had gotten there before him.

That was to be his signal to storm off, leaving Brittany to throw a temper tantrum and keep the attention of the cameras while he just walked away (as boringly as he could muster) and then found his own way to the studio to help the two goody-goods get in.

But for now, the two merely walked towards their destination. Alvin was grumbling about how Brittany had managed to talk him into taking the longer way there, and Brittany was practically waltzing along, enjoying the late-November world for a change. Sure, it was very grey outside. But there were still plenty of flowers. They were in California after all. The winter months were always hospitable, if not on the warm side. In fact, she rather felt like going to the beach.

Theodore walked down the other side of the street, waving to her as he passed. "Not to give away any secrets," Brittany shouted at him, "but Ellie want to Wal-Mart for some reason. She wouldn't tell anyone else, maybe she'll tell you!"

"Thanks!" Theodore shouted back, skipping along his merry way.

"Why don't you go see her right now?" she continued, pulling the chubby little Chipmunk to a full stop.

"That'd be a pretty good idea!" Theodore turned around and darted back up the street while Brittany sucked in a deep breath and shook her head. The poor kid could be just plain dunce sometimes.

…X…

Simon glanced around carefully before boarding the bus. He felt like a complete fool wearing the jeans and the over-sized jacket Alvin had managed to scrape together for him. And the hat on his head was just too much. But Alvin insisted that someone was bound to recognize him, seeing as he was younger brother to the Alvin Seville. "Hey kid!" the bus driver shouted as he tried to sit down. "Don't forget to pay." He pointed at the coin box and Simon groaned. He searched his pockets, pulling out barely enough change to pay the fee. But the bus was better than taking the taxi. A taxi driver would ask too many questions.

Soon enough, the world was whizzing past him outside the bus window. It was possibly the most comfortable bus he'd ever been on. He felt like he could just curl up and fall asleep…

"It's such a pity," he overheard the people behind him saying. He didn't mean to eavesdrop, but with his eyes closed all the noises seemed louder. It was easier to focus on just one conversation rather than have the whole bus roaring in his ears.

"What's such a pity?" the girl's companion replied.

"Those poor kids. I mean, I know they're big stars and could probably use a good humbling anyway, but that's so unfair. Splitting up their families for Thanksgiving?"

"I voted to split them up."

"How could you?"

"You said it yourself! They're big stars. Their heads are probably bigger than…than Michael Jackson's was when he went loco."

"I said probably. Theodore is a real sweet-heart…"

"On stage! How do we know what they're like in real life? Stars are never how they appear." Simon was starting to seethe a little. How could complete strangers talk about his baby brother like that? Theodore was the sweetest butterball on the face of the Earth!

"Maybe Alvin…but there's no way Theodore is bad."

"And what about the middle one? Simon?"

"I don't know. He's somewhere in the middle…they're triplets. Maybe he's the mediator."

"Like me?" someone across the aisle laughed. Simon opened his eyes, daring to peek. Across the aisle was a girl and another boy in the window seat. He leaned over just enough to see the boy in the aisle on his side, realizing that the three in his line of sight had to be related.

"Yeah. Like you." Simon strained to try to see the other girl without giving away that he was spying. He finally caught sight of her as she stretched herself out, poking her head over the seats for a second. She looked completely different. The trio all had reddish hair, hers was black. The trio was pale. She had a rather dark tone with lots of freckles. "I don't know where we'd be if you weren't there to keep Jack in line."

"I'm not that bad," the boy at her side replied. "Besides, you know you love me all the same."

"Do you think Theodore really could be bad?" the smaller boy all the way over by the window said. Simon almost laughed seeing that the kid was wearing his own green sweater. He probably idolized the little butterball.

"Theodore is as sweet as anything," he found himself piping up. "He couldn't hurt a fly or a spider or anything anymore than he could lie. And trust me; he can't lie without feeling guilty and coming clean less than an hour later."

"And just how would you know that?" Jack snapped. Simon cowered down, suddenly realizing what he'd done.

"You his friend or something?" the girl across the aisle asked.

"Something like that," Simon replied, adjusting his glasses.

"You're Simon!" the little one accused.

"Guilty." All of a sudden all four let out some sort of squeal. Even Jack let out some sort of noise of surprise.

"I hope Jack didn't insult you too much," the first girl said. "He's got a big head sometimes. He's completely convinced that all stars are only out for themselves."

"Not all stars. Just most. Even Alvin is better than that." He tugged his hat down, making sure no one else had noticed him. "And please keep quiet. I'm sort of on a mission right now."

"Mission? What sort?"

"I'm going to…to talk to the studio. I really don't want to be split up for Thanksgiving. It's just not right."

"Talking won't help," the second girl laughed. "They have all the money and they have your signatures on their contracts. You do what they say." Simon sucked in a deep breath.

"I'll still try all the same. I can't just sit around and let idiots vote my family apart." He noted that the first girl nudged Jack in the side and he cast her a slight glare in return. "By the way, who are you guys?"

"I'm Roxy," the first girl said. "I'm Jack's girlfriend. Then those two are Rachel and Tyler. These three are triplets, just like you and your brothers."

"Theodore is my idol," Tyler announced.

"I'm rather fond of you," Rachel told him. "Smart kids don't normally get the credit due to them, and yet you are always on TV and the radio. You and Theodore are perfect role models."

"What about Alvin?" Simon asked tentatively.

"What about him?" Jack said.

"Jack is just like him, if that's what you're wondering," Roxy laughed. "All the girls squeal for him and he's got the attitude to boot."

"Really now?" Simon laughed.

"Could you autograph this picture for us?" Rachel said, offering a picture that looked like it had been taken at one of their concerts a while ago.

"No problem." He took the pen offered to him too and quickly scribbled his name. It was probably the only time he'd ever signed anything on his own without his brothers there too. Sure, Alvin had signed plenty on his own, but this was a first for the smart brother. "This is my stop. See ya later."

"Probably not," Jack hissed. "You'll probably never see us again. We don't even go to your school."

"What school do you go to?"

"Lincoln." That was his school's bitter enemy. Simon just knew that in a few more years Jack and Alvin would both be football team stars facing off for some championship prize.

"I'll look you up and get you four tickets to our next concert." With a smile, he skipped down the bus steps.


	15. Plan into Action

Hmm...Well, I got a good suggestion for a duet, but at the last minute I really did find the PERFECT one. It's so amazing! I'm actually going to use it as a vid duet too.

Oh, and if I slow down...Well, yesterday was our belated musical auditions (thanks to a snow day way back before Christmas). So...I plan on taking my laptop to school and working on the stories while I'm not practicing, which may be a lot or it may not be. I know that they cracked up over my speech audition (the thing said to go as fast as possible without sacrificing clarity...And Yakko is my favorite Animaniac...enough said there), but I also know that I had issues singing again. I know I am a good singer, I just...For some reason I always clam up for stuff like that. At least I got out a few strong notes...But more than likely I'll be a chorus girl. (Which means a lot of dance practice...ballroom dance practice for this particular musical.)

Anyway, after this chapter, there's only two more for this one. (Please don't be sad...I told you it was a short story!) I hope you like the little plot! Please tell me if it falls short of expectations...I don't want to disappoint anyone at all! (And if you tell me what fell short, maybe I can make it up in the next chapter somehow.)

**AND DON'T FORGET: Sign my petition to let Ross and Janice know that we want to see more of the cartoon Chipmunks (and not just the old episodes either...the Chipmunk Adventure needs to be shown on TV as well as the fact that they need to make _more)_.**

* * *

_Switched_

**Chapter 15: Plan into Action**

Theodore hunted through the aisles, trying his hardest to find Eleanor's blond pigtails. At the very least he'd noticed another camera man sneaking around. The guy was doing a terrible job of being sneaky. All sorts of people in the store were staring at him, wandering around and trying to get their faces on camera. But Eleanor was nowhere to be seen.

"Boo!" he heard behind him, making him jump almost a foot in the air, accidentally knocking down a canned pyramid display. The two of them clung to the shelves trying to avoid being hurt as all sorts of shoppers yelled and complained as they stepped on cans and fell or were caught up by someone who had fallen. "Oops…Sorry Theodore."

"It's ok," he replied.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I'm fine."

"That's good."

"So what's worrying you?"

"Huh?"

"You're still holding my hand." Theodore glanced down at her hand in his, gently pulling away. "Come on. We'd better pick all these up." As they started to collect the cans, the manager was running up. Eleanor handed the cans off to Theodore, running over to handle damage control.

"Those were cans we were collecting for the local food banks!"

"We'll help you get more, I promise!"

"How?"

"Well, first we're going to pick all these up. You should get your workers to restack the pyramid…we're too short and we'd probably knock them all over again." Theodore was already putting them in an empty cart someone had courteously brought over for him.

"But how are you going to get more?"

"We're going to…eh…sing a song!" The guy raised an eyebrow, but once she inconspicuously turned her eyes to the camera man (and his eyes followed her lead), he understood. People would know they were being filmed and would give just for the sheer want for attention.

"Alright. Have at it."

…X…X…

Alvin ran his lines through his head, still hoping that he'd be able to feign anger well enough to fool those idiotic camera men. He was in position already, waiting for Brittany to get there. Then suddenly a flaw came to him. He couldn't just start shouting at Brittany…and he hadn't planned the conversation that led up to their mock-fight.

Tugging his cap down, he tried to make something up on the spot. Little did he know, Brittany was already way ahead of him. She walked up, giggling in her own world. He spun at her laughter, wondering what was so funny. "Alvin! Oh Alvin…" she gasped out through her giggles.

"Oh Alvin what?" he snapped cautiously.

"Alvin! I can't believe…believe you actually…"

"Actually what?"

"Actually put on a ballerina costume!" He felt his cheeks flushing. Anything but that. Why did she have to use that?

"It was for Theodore! He still believed in the tooth fairy and in a home full of boys, someone had to do it."

"I know, but still! Did anyone catch it on camera?"

"No! Thank goodness. How did you find out?"

"Simon was talking about it." That could help cover up some of the whispering that had been going on at the very least.

"Brittany, why did you have to bring this up now? You know…with all the cameras around?"

"Well, I figured it wouldn't really bother a big, tough guy like you. And besides, you should get used to the media knowing every little detail about everything you do. It's what they do to big stars, so if you ever want to be big…"

"Brittany, we already are big, in case you haven't noticed."

"No you're not. You just do crazy stunts to pretend you're big." Now she was really striking nerves. And this was so far from the argument they'd planned to have there was no way they'd get back to what they'd rehearsed.

"Brittany…"

"What?" She glanced up, pretending to be completely innocent. "Just because you have to work for your fame while we just have a natural attraction…"

"Brittany! Stop it."

"Stop what?"

"Stop…being so annoying!" That was lame. He knew it, she knew it, America would know it. But...The words did come naturally at least. She was being obnoxious.

"Oh…Sorry." It was half-hearted. Taunting. Brittany knew exactly how to anger him. It was a good thing they were just putting on a show or he'd really be mad at her.

…X…X…

Simon and Jeanette sat beside the building, looking up at the window they'd be sneaking in through. The only problem was that Alvin couldn't even get the signal to get over there. Jeanette had tripped and the device had gotten soaked in a puddle left over from who knew what. They were on their own…and neither of them knew how to pick locks (let alone wanted to).

"This plan is turning into a disaster," Jeanette sighed.

"It started out well enough…" Simon tried to cheer her up. "Well, maybe Alvin will still show up in time. It's not like we could get in there just now anyway. The place is swamped."

"And just why are you going in through a side window?" another voice just down the alley taunted.

"Who's there?" Simon instinctively jumped in front of Jeanette, ready to give her the signal to run if it was anyone to fear.

"Just your average bus-buddy." The kid walked into the light and Simon could only stare in surprise. "I thought you were suspicious enough."

"Jack…Where's everyone else?"

"Inside. I guess we kinda forgot to mention that our uncle is a co-producer of this show you're on."

"Jack! You aren't going to tell…"

"Relax. I've been waiting for a little adventure since this game got started. But nothing exciting ever happens here. It's always somewhere out there in New York, Texas…Even the kids in Ohio had more fun than we've had! You'd figure we'd get the better end of the deal. We get to have a special dinner every Saturday with the kids that came in for the end of their show. But just meeting them and hearing the stories is no fun at all."

"So you want to be a part of it? Even if you never get on TV?"

"Even if I never get on TV. I'm so bored just sitting around waiting for nothing to happen."

"Well, a whole lot of nothing is going to happen this afternoon."

"Umm…pardon me, but…you two know each other?" Jeanette asked timidly.

"Met on the bus ride here," Jack explained. "He got off a stop early though."

"So you noticed," Simon said slyly. "By any chance could you get us in there without anyone noticing?"

"What do you plan to do?"

"I'll tell you when we're someplace less…open."

…X…X…

Alvin spun on his heels and marched off, completely enraged. Brittany had been the perfect little actress. Too perfect…Sure, they'd completely aborted the script, but that look in her eyes seemed all too sincere. And they really couldn't stop to talk about what just happened until after the show was over. It was infuriating.

But he couldn't bother with that now. The sun was starting to get rather low and he still hadn't been signaled. One could only wonder how long Theodore and Eleanor could keep the attention now that he and Brittany were going their separate ways. He wasn't about to go to the studio now, not without a signal. It could mean Simon and Jeanette had run into trouble. He couldn't risk making it worse.

So he decided to cut around the block and head for home. Miss Miller would be worried anyway. They hadn't stayed out this late yet since living at her house. She'd really want to know what was going on. So he hurried on through the front door, opening his mouth to announce himself when he heard Brittany's littlest sister on the TV.

"No mountains too high

For you to climb.

All you have to do is have some climbing faith,

Oh yeah.

No rivers too wide

For you to make it across.

All you have to do is believe it when you pray."

At least he didn't have to worry about the cameras hunting down Simon and Jeanette. Theodore and Eleanor were singing a duet in…Wal-Mart? Either way, Theodore was up.

"And then you will see

The morning will come,

And every day will be as bright at the sun.

All your fears,

Cast them on me.

I just want you to see…"

Alvin stared in wonder as he sat down beside Miss Miller. She merely glanced at him, then back to the two chipmunks on the screen as they sang together.

"I'll be your cloud up in the sky,

I'll be your shoulder when you cry,

I'll hear your voices when you call me.

I am your angel.

And when all hope is gone, I'm here.

No matter how far you are, I'm near.

It makes no difference who you are

I am your angel.

I'm your angel."

Now it was time for his little brother to sing by himself again. Alvin was quite impressed with how Theodore was handling himself.

"I saw the teardrops and I heard you cry.

All you need is time.

Seek me and you shall find

You have everything and you're still lonely.

It doesn't have to be this way,

Let me show you a better day."

"And then you will see

The morning will come

And all of your days will be bright as the sun.

So all of your fears

Just cast them on me.

How can I make you see?"

If Brittany were watching right now, she'd be eternally jealous of her sister. Eleanor was going to be a big hit for this one. And they even sounded great together. Alvin knew a good bit of music when he heard it, and he wasn't going to let his own jealousy that that could have been him get in the way of being proud of his baby brother.

"I'll be your cloud up in the sky,

I'll be your shoulder when you cry,

I'll hear your voices when you call me.

I am your angel.

And when all hope is gone, I'm here.

No matter how far you are, I'm near.

It makes no difference who you are.

I am your angel."

Theodore gave the biggest smile he had in him (which was pretty big for a small guy) as he echoed the line.

"I'm your angel.

And when it's time to face the storm…"

"I'll be right by your side."

"Grace will keep us safe and warm."

"And I know we will survive.

And when it seems as if your end is drawing near,

Don't you dare give up the fight.

Just put your trust beyond the sky…"

The two smiled as each person all sorts of gifts into a huge pile with a sign marked 'donations' over it.

"I'll be your cloud up in the sky,

I'll be your shoulder when you cry,

I'll hear your voices when you call me.

I am your angel.

And when all hope is gone, I'm here.

No matter how far you are, I'm near.

It makes no difference who you are,

I am your angel.

I'm your angel.

I'll be your cloud up in the sky,

I'll be your shoulder when you cry,

I'll hear your voices when you call me.

I am your angel.

And when all hope is gone, I'm here.

No matter how far you are, I'm near.

It makes no difference who you are,

I am your angel.

I'm your angel."

…X…X…

"Shh!" Jack scolded as he led Simon and Jeanette to the main control room. He had even cooked up a plan to get it cleared out so Simon and Jeanette could work their magic. As for the chipmunks in glasses, they had been distracted when they noticed their siblings a screen linked to some news anchors. Theodore and Eleanor were so adorable, and they were attracting more attention than anyone could have ever hoped for. The plan, other than the lack of a signaling device, was going smoothly.

"Sorry," Simon said quietly.

"Duck down here and be ready to run in as soon as I clear them out."

"Right. And Jack?"

"Huh?"

"Thanks."

"Hey, I'm doing it for the adventure." Simon couldn't help but chuckle.

"That's exactly why we signed up for this show in the first place. For a little excitement."


	16. Happy Thanksgiving!

We are doing 'Once Upon a Matress.' It's definitly beneath us and our talents...but I love my dress so far.

And...THIS is why I don't want to start posting my sequal for TLTT yet. I just took three weeks to finish a three-page chapter. Well...It isn't much, but I hope you guys like it. And this wraps up 'Switched'! (Aside from the epilogue, of course, and I hope that doesn't take me anywhere near as long to finish...)

**AND DON'T FORGET: Sign my petition to let Ross and Janice know that we want to see more of the cartoon Chipmunks (and not just the old episodes either...the Chipmunk Adventure needs to be shown on TV as well as the fact that they need to make _more)_.**

* * *

_Switched_

**Chapter 16: Happy Thanksgiving!**

"Oh, David, we thought you weren't going to be coming at all as late as you are!" Miss Miller scolded.

"Sorry Miss Miller," he apologized, carefully stepping out of the way as the trio of girls ran past him, dishes in their arms, in excitement to visit with their true guardian.

"Oh, girls!" She tried to play it cool, but the grin on her face said how much she missed them.

"Where are the boys?" Dave glanced around, wondering why he hadn't been attacked yet.

"Working in the kitchen. Girls, go drop off the food in there and then get straight to work. You know what to do."

"Of course Miss Miller!" they all said cheerily, running in. The boys spun around in surprise at their noisy entrance, but quickly realized that, since the girls were there, Dave had to be there too. They instantly abandoned what they'd been doing and ran for their father.

"Hey fellas," he greeted as he scooped the three up. A quick hug, then he had to set them back down. "The food smells great." He glanced towards Miss Miller who shook her head.

"Your boys are excellent cooks," she said as she sat down. "They said today we relax."

"Oh?"

"Yep!" All three said cheerily.

"So you just sit down and enjoy the aroma," Alvin said as he pulled Dave over to a comfy chair. As soon as they were sure he was comfortable, they darted back into the kitchen. Not a word was spoken about their plot, and not a word would be spoken of it ever again. It had been a success, and that was all they needed to know. Well, other than the fact that Alvin wanted to make sure that Brittany really was just acting and not letting her true feeling mix in during that fake fight.

While Theodore and Eleanor hummed the song they had sung while being distractions at Wal-Mart, Simon and Jeanette couldn't help but let out a short, quiet laugh when they looked at each other. Jack had been a big help, willingly making a complete and total fool of himself to aid their venture.

…X…X…

Simon and Jeanette crouched low in the shadows, watching as Jack snuck over to a closet where he'd obviously hidden something. "I hope you two are ready for the rodeo," he teased as he flung open the door. The two in glasses pressed themselves further back into the shadows as four piglets ran squealing out of the closet.

"Jack! Where'd you get those from?" Simon hissed.

"Roxy's cousin is babysitting them for someone. Apparently they make great pets. Don't know why anyone would want four though…We volunteered to look after them tonight." With that, he motioned for them to get down as he started yelling for some help to recollect the pigs.

Almost instantly every available hand in the studio was after them. At least the little guys were fast. Jeanette was worried about what Jack had done to get them so riled up, but Simon didn't let her stop to think before pulling her into the room and pulling the door almost shut.

"Keep a look out, ok?" Simon whispered to her as he jumped up in a computer chair and hunted down the programs he needed. Sure enough, the polls were rigged. His eyebrows furrowed together as he carefully got rid of the rigging and set the true stats back to where they belonged. In reality, it was 72% for them having Thanksgiving together.

"Simon?" Jeanette called.

"I'm almost done."

"But someone's coming!" He glanced back at her, then to the screen. 

"If I don't finish this then this will all have been a waste!"

"If we don't hide now then…"

"I know!" His fingers sped up on the keys as he rushed to get as much done as he could. Jeanette had pushed the door as shut as possible without latching it and had pushed herself into the best hiding spot she could find. He heard the door creak before he heard the person move, and jumped straight under the nearest desk.

"Here piggy, piggy, piggy," the little boy called as he walked gingerly through the room. "Are you in here piggy?"

"Jack! How could you let this happen?" they could hear a girl shouting down the hall.

"Don't let Roxy scare you piggy," the little boy crooned, pausing beside where Simon was hiding. Simon was just about to crawl out and quiet the boy when he peeked under the desk. "Simon!"

"Shh! Tyler! We're here under cover!" The kid stepped back, confused, as Simon jumped out and motioned for Jeanette to shut the door. But it was all too late. Rachel had heard and had come running, and soon behind her Jack and Roxy added to the group. "Shut the door!" Jack instantly obeyed.

"What's going on here?" Rachel demanded.

"Please, quiet!" Jeanette slipped out and glanced around, not sure what to do. "Jeanette, this is Rachel and Tyler, Jack's siblings. And this is Roxy."

"Hi!" Tyler said sweetly.

"How do you do?" Jeanette said politely.

"Jeanette Miller?" Rachel said in response. "Ok…enough is enough. Why are you here?"

"We're here…"

"To un-rig the polls," Simon said honestly. "It was practically opposite of what the truth is!"

"You…prove it!" He walked over to the screen and quickly explained everything, glancing at her every now and then to make sure she was still following. While the other three seemed to get very lost very quickly, Rachel definitely kept up. "How could they? That's so cruel!"

"That's show business," Jack told her. 

"Well, hurry up and finish it!" Roxy said. "It won't take forever to round up the piglets." Simon smiled as he continued his work while his newest friends hurried over to guard the door.

"Got it!" Simon said cheerfully. "Now they won't be able to re-rig the poll once we're out of here."

"And you'd better get going," Rachel said. "They just caught the last one!"

"Too late," Jack said. "Through the window you two!" He hopped up and pushed it open, helping Simon through. The chipmunk found something to stand on outside and braced himself as he helped Jeanette through. Jack hopped down as his siblings jumped up to say their farewells.

"Take care," Rachel said as Simon jumped to the ground. Jeanette quickly added her scribbled signature to the picture Tyler was holding out before turning around and reaching out for Simon's waiting arms.

"See you Saturday," the two siblings whispered as Simon helped Jeanette to the ground.

…X…X…

Exactly at five thirty, they all sat down to their meal, the children barely containing their laughter. Perfect turkey, luscious potatoes, and tempting pies cooling on the counter, and the remnants of their plot and how well they'd evaded being caught lingering in their minds.

"This is wonderful!" Miss Miller cooed.

"Absolutely perfect," Dave added.

"So girls, what are you most thankful for today?" The girls glanced at each other with a small giggle.

"Friends," Eleanor started.

"Family," Jeanette added.

"And fans," Brittany finished.

"Um…" Eleanor and Jeanette couldn't help but smile. At least she hadn't said 'fashion' this year.

"What about you boys?" Dave asked.

"Dinner," Theodore cheered.

"Dads," Simon added.

"And siblings," Alvin finished. Dave smiled with surprise, carving out turkey for everyone (except Theodore, who was an avid vegetarian). The children all made quick eye contact with each other, lifting their glasses full of Hawaiian Punch in unison.

"Happy Thanksgiving!" they all cheered.


	17. Epilogue

Well, this epilogue just summarizes the story a little. I hope you have a few giggles with it and I hope it wraps up things neatly. And I also hope that you don't mind if I disappear into my writer's-hole for a few months so I can finish off that sequal I've been promising you. (I finally went back to it recently and...well, I hated what I saw...the first chapter was almost fine, but the three following it were total bores, and it's no wonder I stopped writing. Absolutly nothing was happening...so little that it made ME want to just drop the whole thing. So I'm starting over from the end of chapter one and I hope it'll go faster now that I've cleaned up the boring-ness.)

Ok, here's your stats for this story:

Pages (on Microsoft Word 2007): 85

True Word Count: 32,303

(Yes, that is SHORT by my standards.)

**AND DON'T FORGET: Sign my petition to let Ross and Janice know that we want to see more of the cartoon Chipmunks (and not just the old episodes either...the Chipmunk Adventure needs to be shown on TV as well as the fact that they need to make _more)_.**

* * *

_Switched_

**Epilogue**

They all sat in the comfy chairs in their best outfits, watching outtakes from the last two weeks. The first day seemed like it had only been a few hours ago…but a few hours ago they had been unpacking their things once again, finally back in their own bedrooms. At that particular moment, they were being shown a clip where the girls were recovering the beds in the boys' room with their own sheets.

"Brittany!" Jeanette scolded as she looked at what had once been Alvin's bed.

"What did you make your bed with this morning anyway?" Eleanor asked as she and Jeanette started to clean up the mess their sister had made.

"Just some old stuff I found in the closet. You know, those old blankets that Miss Miller provided when we first moved in, before we got to use what we wanted."

"Brittany, it's not that bad sleeping in Alvin's bed."

"Oh yes it is! I wonder how often he takes a shower? Not enough! He's probably filthy…And you wonder why I brought all my sheets with me. I don't want him messing them up." The boys watched as the girls headed to what was to be their beds for the next two weeks. "Do you two want some too?"

"Want some what?" Jeanette asked.

"Extra sheets! I brought enough for all three beds."

"Actually, that doesn't sound too bad," Eleanor said. "Just so long as we make their beds before we leave."

"Oh, don't worry. We'll clean this room too."

"Brittany, you hate cleaning," Jeanette said as she carefully started un-making Simon's bed.

"I hate cleaning, but I hate living in filth even worse. Remember how we kept the tree house clean? I can't stand living someplace dirty."

"This isn't that bad," Eleanor said. "It really could be a lot worse."

"But it's still gross. **Our** room is cleaner than this."

The boys almost jumped when the clip ended and the announcer turned back to them. "Well, boys…How did that make you feel?" Andy asked them.

"Dirt is better than frills," Alvin declared. "Besides, we keep our room picked up!"

"That was picked up?" Brittany scoffed. Everything was coated in a layer of dust…and it smelled funny."

"Your room smelled like cheap perfume." They silently challenged each other with their glares.

"Well, that was just day one! Things really started heating up later on." He pressed play for their next pre-selected clip, and Alvin almost groaned out loud when he saw it.

"That's it!" Alvin yelled as he threw his pencil down.

"Trouble with homework?" Simon asked.

"No."

"Then what's wrong?"

"I'm just so…frustrated! Do you even realize that this the most we've said to each other all day is 'let's go to the park to do our homework'?"

"We're just trying hard not to say something that's against the rules," Eleanor said. "I wasn't so **badly** to ask how Sunday chores went, but we can't."

"I want to know what you did yesterday," Theodore said. "That's not off-limits, right? Seeing as you guys probably went out…Dave always lets us go do something on Sunday afternoons."

"We got ice cream," Jeanette said. "And Brittany took us window shopping."

"Just window shopping?" Alvin asked.

"We put the last of our money together to get the ice cream."

"There was such a gorgeous necklace in one of the stores," Brittany said as she played with her hair. "It would look just perfect with my new dress…But I suppose I can get that any time. What surprised me was that **Jeanette** found something that she adored."

"Brittany!"

"What? Is it a crime to tell the **boys** that you liked a lovely necklace? It would be perfect for our Christmas concert with the boys…but knowing you, you'll never, **ever** buy it for yourself. And I'm quite sure you'd never just **ask** anyone for it…"

"So why don't you get it for her?" Alvin said.

"Because **I'm** saving up for that necklace to go with my dress. I just wouldn't feel fully dressed without it. Of course, If someone were to buy me the necklace, then I could get my sweet little sister something for the concert."

"Forget is! You've borrowed too much of my money already."

"Borrowed?"

"You had money for her to borrow?" Simon asked.

"Why do you think I'm broke all the time?" Alvin replied. "It's her fault.

"Aw, Alvin," Brittany cooed. "You know you always want to look good on stage, and of course when I look good, so do you. You know, since we're such a tight-knit group."

"We are not a group Brittany. We are we, the Chipmunks, and you are you, the Chipettes. We sing together sometimes because we're helping you on your rise to fame. You really should be more grateful!" Alvin jumped off the bench and headed for home.

"Alvin!" his brothers called to stop him. "Alvin! Don't go home!"

"Why not?"

"Because we're not allowed to!" Theodore told him.

"Then I'll see you at Miss Miller's house!"

"And so started a week-long feud," Jillian laughed. "You six are quite an adventure, even in your own backyard."

"You have no idea," Simon told her.

"Care to share?" Andy said, interested in getting the kids talking.

"Not really. It seems crazy to us, but it'd probably bore you."

"Well, you kids sure do seem to have a lot of things going on, both planned and on accident."

"That's right!" Jillian agreed. "A dazzling concert, and then you youngest ones at Wal-Mart? That has to be one of the most interesting performances I've ever seen."

"We owed them," Eleanor told her. "We kind of made a huge mess of things so we had to do something to make up for it. Not only was it the right thing to do, but it was for a good cause!" The six kids all noticed the two adults glance 'discretely' at the camera crew and then turn around and bound into their commercial speeches.

"And after the break, we'll meet with the guardians and hear their side of the story!" Jillian cheered, and the kids' hearts sank. They'd never done that before!

The six of them were ushered off rather quickly as Dave and Miss Miller were pulled onto the set to get ready. The two announcers instantly dived into conversations with them and the kids were left to just watch and see what was going to happen.

"Hey!" they heard someone call.

"Jack!" Simon replied cheerfully. Jack was instantly followed by his two siblings, each of which were staring and wonder at the fact that all six kids were gathered together before their eyes.

"Can you sign this?" they said in unison, holding out the picture that Simon and Jeanette had already signed.

"I see you've met my brother already…" Alvin said apprehensively as he took the pen and scribbled his name down.

"We met on the bus," Jack told him. "When he was heading here to unrig the polls."

"And we helped them distract everyone so they could do it!" Tyler explained cheerfully. "Roxy was still mad that we let her cousins piglets run loose in the studio, but she forgave Jack because he'd done such a good deed."

"Where is Roxy anyway?" Jeanette asked.

"Bathroom," Rachel said.

"Not anymore!" Roxy called as she ran up to join the group. "You'd think they'd have cleaner bathrooms in a studio. Geeze." They all jumped as they were hushed. The commercial break was coming to an end.

"Welcome back everyone to our extra-special interview," Andy called cheerfully.

"For the first time ever on the show, we're interviewing the guardians of our switchees," Jillian echoed. Instantly a clip reel started up with all the moments where Dave and Miss Miller had to step up to the challenge of taking care of each chipmunks' unique problems. It was a collage that included the evening after Alvin and Brittany's fight first began, the day Dave and Miss Miller had both taken one of the kids to the doctors, the night when all six had woken up from their nightmares, the shopping day and the comforting that had had to take place after the concert, and it was all wrapped up with their Thanksgiving dinner.

"So you've both known the other kids for a while," Andy started when it was finished. "Was it different than you expected actually having to care for them as your own?"

"I'm not exactly used to girls," Dave started, "but I'm certainly used to adventurous triplets. Some of it was harder than others, but in general everything went as, well, smoothly as it could have gone."

"That was smooth?" Jillian couldn't help but laugh.

"For us, yes," Alvin hissed, only to be instantly hushed.

"Boys are easy to handle compared to girls," Miss Miller declared. "I just hope they give us a break before they plow on into their next adventure." All six children couldn't help but snicker at that. It wasn't like they chose when they'd have an adventure, adventures just seemed to seek them out more often than it sought out other kids.


End file.
